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WORKS     ISSUED     BY 


TLhe  Daklu£t  Society. 


DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS, 

1605    TO     l620. 


BOOK    II.— EXPEDITION    OF    CAPTAIN   JENS    MUNK, 

1619-1620. 


No.  XCVII, 


DANISH 

ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS, 

1605  TO  l620. 

IN  TWO  BOOKS: 

BOOK    I.— THE    DANISH    EXPEDITIONS    TO    GREENLAND 

in  1605,  1606,  and  1607  ;  to  which  is  added  captain 

James  Hall's  Voyage  to  Greenland  in  1612. 

BOOK    II.— THE    EXPEDITION    OF    CAPTAIN    JENS    MUNK 

to  Hudson's  Bay  in  Search  of  a  North- West 

Passage  in  1619-20. 

lEtntrfc,  tottf)  iflotrs  antr  Sntrolnirlion, 

BY 

C.    C.    A.    GOSCH. 


BOOK   II. 


LONDON : 
PRINTED     FOR    THE    HAKLUYT    SOCIETY. 


M.UCCC  XCV 


$%$(■ 


c 

i  u  \ 


LONDON  : 
>RINTED   AT   THE    BEDFORD    L'KESS,    20   AND   21,    BEDFORDUl'RY,  W.C. 


COUNCIL 


THE    HAKLUYT    SOCIETY. 


Sir  Clements  Markham,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Pres.  R.G.S.,  President, 

The  Right  Hon.  The  Lord  Stanley  of  Alderley,  Vice-President. 

Sir  William  Wharton,  K.C.B.,  Vice-President. 

C.  Raymond  Beazley,  Esq.,  M.A. 

Colonel  G.  Earl  Church. 

The  Right  Hon.  George  N.  Curzon,  M.P. 

Albert  Gray,   Esq. 

Alfred  Harmsworth,  Esq. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Hawkesbury. 

Edward  Heawood,  Esq.,  M.A. 

Admiral  Sir  Anthony  H.  Hoskins,  G.C.B. 

Rear-Admiral  Albert  H.  Markham. 

A.   P.   MAUDSLAY,  Esq. 

E.  Delmar  Morgan,  Esq. 

Captain  Nathan,  R.E. 

Admiral  Sir  E.  Ommanney,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 

Cuthbert  E.  Peek,  Esq. 

E.  G.  Rayenstein,  Esq. 

Howard  Saunders,  Esq. 

Charles  Welch,  Esq.,  E.S.A. 

WILLIAM   FOSTER,    Esq.,  B.A. ,  Honorary  Secretary. 


CONTENTS    OF   BOOK    II. 


Introduction  : 

I. — The  Life  of  Jens  Munk       .  .  .  .         v 

II. — Bibliography  of  Early  Accounts   of  Munfc's    Life  and 

Voyage  .  .  .  .  .        lv 

III. — Notice  of  Voyages  in  Search  of  a  North-West  Passage 

preceding  that  of  Munk  .  .  .  Lwiii 

IV. — Preliminary  Observations  on  Jens   Munk's  Expedition 

to  Hudson's  Bay  .  .  ' .  .  xcvii 

Jens  Munk's  "  Navigatio  Septentrionalis"        .  .         i 

Commentary    to    Jens    Munk's  "  Navigatio   Septentri- 
onalis" : 

I. — Observations  on  the  Text  .  .  .  .60 

II. — Observations  on  Munk's  Map  and  on  the  Geographical 

Results  of  his  Voyage     .  .  .  136 

Index  .  .  .  .  '.  .185 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  BOOK  II. 

Munk's  representation  of  his  meeting  with  the  Eskimoes,  etc. 

Facing  1 4 
Munk's  Map  .....  Facing  '  21 
Munk's  representation  of  his  Wintering  .  .     Facing       23 

Munk's  Map  with  scale  of  degrees  inserted    .  .     Facing     151 

Track  Map  showing  Munk's  Route  At  the  end  of  the  volume 

In  the  Text. 
Map  of  Port  Churchill       .  .  .110 


DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS, 

1605    TO    1620. 


BOOK   II. 

JENS  MUNK'S  VOYAGE  TO  HUDSON'S  BAY, 

J619    AND     l620. 


THE 


EXPEDITION  OF  JENS   MUNK 
TO    HUDSON'S    BAY, 


IN    SEARCH   OF 


A    NORTH-WEST    PASSAGE, 


16  19-20. 


[Translated  from  Munk's  Navigatio  Septentrionalis 
(Copenhagen,   1624,  40)]. 


INTRODUCTION 


I. —  The  Life  of  Jens  Munk. 

HE  perilous  nature,  tragic  develop- 
ment,  and    heroic    termination   of 
the    voyage    of    Jens    Munk    to 
Hudson's  Bay  cannot  fail  to  enlist 
the  sympathy  of  all  who  read  of 
it,   quite  apart   from   the    interest 
attaching    to    it    as    a    voyage    of    discovery.       All 
through  the  events  of  that  expedition,  the  personality 
of  the  leader    is    conspicuous,    and    the    history    of 
Munk's  life  altogether  is  well  worthy  of  notice.      He 
was  essentially   a  self-made  man,  like   so  many  of 
those  whose  names  are  the  best  remembered  ;  and 
his  varying  fortunes  in   fighting  the   battle  of  life, 
which  began   for    him   when    he  was  a  mere    boy, 
present   a  picture  of  unusual  interest,   whether  we 
fix  our  attention  on  his  personal  history  or  on  his 
public  achievements.    Nobility  of  character,  unflinch- 
ing devotion  to  duty,  indomitable  courage,  and  the 
modesty  which  charms  us  most  in  those  who  need  it 


vi  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

least,  always  claim  admiration,  and  Munk  appears 
to  have  been  a  bright  example  of  each  of  these 
qualities.  There  are  few  names  on  the  roll  of  the 
Danish  Navy  of  which  it  has  better  reason  to  be 
proud,  than  that  of  Munk,  the  Navigator.  Not  only 
amongst  the  Danish  explorers,  but  amongst  those 
of  all  the  world,  he  occupies  an  honourable  place. 
We  think  ourselves  justified,  therefore,  in  submitting 
to  our  readers  a  somewhat  fuller  account  of  Munk's 
life  than  the  object  of  this  volume  would  in  strictness 
require.1 

The  information  now  available  is  not  sufficient  to 
clear  up  all  uncertainty  concerning  Jens  Munk's 
descent  and  family  connections.  Still,  much  more  is 
known  of  him  in  these  respects  than  can  now  be 
ascertained  concerning  any  of  the  commanders  of 
the  English  voyages  of  the  same  series,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  Munk  was  the  son  of  a  man  who  in  his 
day  was  well  known  in  Denmark,  though,  unfortu- 
nately, not  altogether  favourably.  Of  Munk's  grand- 
father, it  was  known  that  his  name  was  Niels  Munk, 
and    that    he    owned    an    estate    called    Hjorne,    in 

1  The  following  account,  like  all  other  biographies  of  Munk, 
is  based  mainly  on  one  which  appeared  anonymously  in  1723 
(see  post,  Bibliography,  etc.).  The  author  of  this  states  that 
it  is  extracted  chiefly  from  Munk's  own  journals,  but  partly 
from  other  trustworthy  sources ;  and  its  general  agreement  with 
the  statements  of  accredited  historians  and  official  documents,  in 
so  far  as  it  can  be  tested  by  such  means,  bears  witness  of  its 
truthfulness.  Not  a  few  facts  have  afterwards  come  to  light  in 
various  publications,  to  which  reference  will  be  made  in  the 
proper  places. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  Vll 

Halland,  a  province  which  is  now  a  part  of  Sweden, 
but  which  at  that  time  belonged  to  Denmark.  As 
he  is  mentioned  in  contemporary  documents  amongst 
the  nobles  of  Halland,  it  seems  probable  that  he 
belonged,  though  perhaps  distantly,  to  a  noble 
family  of  the  name  of  Munk,  which  is  now  extinct, 
but  which  at  that  time  was  still  nourishing  in 
Denmark.  About  this,  however,  nothing  further 
is  known.  Certain  it  is  that  his  son,  Erik  Nielsen 
Munk — father  of  our  hero,  Jens  Eriksen  Munk1 — 
was  not  considered  as  of  noble  birth.  This,  however, 
may  be  reconciled  with  the  foregoing  statements 
concerning  Niels  Munk  by  assuming  that  the  wife 
of  the  latter,  whose  descent  is  not  known,  was  a 
commoner ;  for  the  law  of  Denmark  then  required, 
as  a  condition  of  inherited  nobility,  that  both  parents 
should  be  noble.  Erik  Munk  appears  to  have  been 
a  man  of  considerable  ability,  who  so  distinguished 
himself,  both  as  a  naval  commander  and  in  other 
ways,  that  in  reward  for  his  services  he  received 
a  patent  of  nobility  in  1580.  Unfortunately  for 
his  children,  his  wife  was  simply  the  daughter  of 
a  surgeon.  Jens  Munk  could  not,  therefore,  claim 
the  status  of  a  nobleman,  a  circumstance  which 
probably  was  unfavourable  to  his  advancement 
later  in  life. 

In  other  and  not  less  serious  respects,   Munk's 

7 
1  It  was  customary  in  Denmark  to  insert  between  the  Christian 
name  and  the  family  name  that  of  the  father,  with  the  addition 
of  sen  (son)  or  datter  (daughter),  as  the  case  might  be. 


Vl'ii         DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

start  in  life  was  unpropitious.  His  father  had 
obtained  from  King  Frederick  II,  not  only  a  patent 
of  nobility,  but  the  grant  of  certain  so-called  Crown- 
fiefs  in  Norway,  the  administration  of  which  would 
legitimately  leave  him  a  handsome  income.  He 
resided  for  some  years  at  Barbo,  an  estate  which  he 
acquired  near  the  modern  town  of  Arendal,  a  part 
of  which — still  called  Barbo — is  built  on  land  once 
belonging  to  him.  Here  his  second  son,  Jens, 
was  born  on  June  3rd,  1579.  But  Erik  Munk 
grossly  abused  the  favours  bestowed  upon  him. 
In  the  course  of  a  comparatively  short  time,  he 
accumulated  considerable  property,  but  not  by 
lawful  means.  Loud  and  many  were  the  complaints 
of  his  oppressive  exactions  and  unjust  dealings, 
which  involved  him  in  numerous  lawsuits.  He 
was  accused  of  maladministration  in  cutting  down 
Crown  forests  for  his  own  use,  and  of  otherwise 
sacrificing  the  interests  of  the  Crown  to  his  own 
private  ends.  In  consequence  of  these  charges,  he 
was  in  1585  deprived  of  his  fiefs,  and  commissioners 
were  appointed  to  investigate  his  conduct,  with  the 
result  that  in  1586  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Castle 
of  Dragsholm,  in  Seeland  (the  same  where  James 
Bothwell  had  died  in  confinement  in  1578),  and 
there  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  His  wife, 
who  had  to  leave  Barbo,  went  with  her  children  to 
reside  at  Frederiksstad,  a  small  town  in  the  province 
of  Smaalenene,  where  she  died  in  1623.  In  1588,  she 
sent  her  younger  son,  Jens — then  nine  years  old — to 
his  father's  sister,  who  had  married  a  wealthy  citizen 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  IX 

of  Aalborg,  in  Jutland,  Frederik  Christensen  by- 
name, who  was  burgomaster  of  the  town,  and  also 
otherwise  a  notable  man.  The  boy,  however,  did 
not  remain  here  long,  but  returned  to  Norway  in 
1 59 1.  Whether  he  did  so  on  account  of  being 
by  necessity  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  or 
on  account  of  his  being  naturally  of  a  restless  and 
adventurous  disposition,  does  not  appear  ;  but,  at 
any  rate,  from  this  time,  he  had  to  rely  upon  himself 
alone  for  his  maintenance  and  advancement  in  the 
world.  His  anonymous  biographer  tells  us  that  in 
that  same  year  he  sailed  with  a  Friesland  skipper, 
named  Jacob  Gerbrantzon,  to  England,  and  thence 
to  Oporto,  where  he  remained  for  a  year  with  a 
merchant  whom  he  calls  Duart  Duez,  his  object 
being  to  learn  the  Portuguese  language.  Why  he 
wished  to  do  so  is  not  stated,  but  it  seems  probable 
enough  that,  having  heard  of  the  golden  chances 
offered  by  the  New  World,  of  which  the  Portuguese 
then  possessed  so  large  a  portion,  he  wished  to 
qualify  himself  to  try  his  fortune  there.  Very 
likely  it  was  with  that  very  object  that  he  had 
left  Aalborg,  where  he  may  probably  not  have  seen 
much  prospect  of  advancement  for  himself,  the 
penniless  son  of  a  disgraced  man.  At  any  rate, 
after  spending  a  year  at  Oporto,  Munk  sailed  for 
Bahia,  in  order,  by  the  advice  of  his  host  or  employer, 
to  join  a  brother  of  the  latter  who  resided  there.  He 
was  then  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  worked  his 
passage  as  a  cabin  boy.  He  arrived  safely,  but 
only  to  find  that  Miguel   Duez,  with  whom  he  was 


X  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

to  live,  had  just  left  Bahia  on  a  visit  to  Europe. 
Munk  then  elected  to  remain  with  the  skipper,  Albert 
Jansen  of  Eynkhusen,  with  whom  he  had  come 
across  from  Europe  ;  and,  accordingly,  he  left  Bahia 
again,  in  order  to  accompany  the  latter  on  his 
further  voyage.      But  this  was  not  to  be. 

In  those  days,  trading  vessels  on  long  voyages 
mostly  sailed  in  fleets  for  mutual  protection  against 
freebooters  (who  then  abounded  on  the  high  seas),  one 
of  the  skippers  being  chosen  admiral.  In  this  case, 
the  fleet  numbered  thirteen  sail,  four  being  Dutch  and 
nine  Portuguese.  The  Admiral  chosen  was  Jan  van 
Bossen,  of  Embden;  the  Vice-Admiral  was  Roland  of 
Flushing  ;  and  the  Rear- Admiral  was  Albert  Jansen, 
of  the  Schoubynacht  (literally,  the  Watch-by-nighi), 
with  whom  Munk  was.  As  ill-luck  would  have  it,  they 
were  attacked  (apparently  not  far  from  Bahia)  by  a 
French  fleet,  commanded  by  a  Count  whose  name 
seems  to  have  been  accidentally  omitted  from  the 
biography,  the  Vice-Admiral  being  one  Ribold  of 
Rochelle.  The  Frenchmen  are  described  as  free- 
booters, but  this  does  not  seem  altogether  to  have 
been  their  real  character,  for  it  is  stated  that  their 
intention  was  to  make  themselves  masters  of  Baya 
de  todos  los  Santos  (which  is  the  real  name  of 
Bahia)  an  undertaking  which  would  seem  to  be 
rather  beyond  the  scope  of  mere  freebooters.  The 
circumstances  of  the  time  (to  which,  however, 
there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  allusion  in 
Munk's  journal)  may  sufficiently  explain  the  apparent 
contradiction.     In  France,  civil  war  was  then  raging 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XI 

between  King  Henry  III  and  the  so-called  Ligue, 
which  was  supported  by  King  Philip  II  of  Spain, 
whilst  the  King  of  France  was  especially  supported 
by  his  Protestant  subjects,  amongst  whose  cities 
Rochelle  stood  foremost.  Remembering,  at  the 
same  time,  that  Philip  had,  eleven  years  before, 
obtained  possession  of  Portugal  and  her  dependen- 
cies, it  appears  not  improbable  that  the  fleet  in 
question  wTas  sent  out  from  Rochelle  in  order,  if 
possible,  to  capture  Bahia,  the  principal  port  of 
Brazil,  even  though  a  certain  element  of  freebooting 
may  have  been  combined  with  it.1 

However  this  may  be,  a  fight  ensued  between 
the  trading  fleet  and  the  Frenchmen,  with  the 
result  that  the  leading  Dutch  ships  were  taken  or 
destroyed,  Albert  Jansen's  being  burnt,  and  only 
seven  persons  saved,  of  whom  Munk  was  one.  The 
survivors  floated  on  some  wreckage  until  the  battle 
was  over,  when  they  were  picked  up  by  the  French 
and  landed  on  a  part  of  the  coast  where  they  were 
in  great  danger  of  falling  victims  to  the  savage 
natives.  Jens  Munk,  however,  after  great  hard- 
ships, succeeded  in  reaching  Bahia,  where  he 
maintained  himself  for  eleven  months  as  a  shoe- 
maker's apprentice,  after  which  he  lived  for  six 
months  with  a  portrait  painter.  At  length,  Miguel 
Duez  returned  from  Europe  and  at  once  took  Munk 


1  An  attempt  on  Bahia  had  been  made  by  the  English  in  1588, 
and  another,  which  was  more  successful,  was  made  in  1623  by 
the  Dutch,  who  held  possession  until  1625. 


xii  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

into  his  house.  With  him,  he  remained  between 
three  and  four  years,  until  another  stirring  adventure 
caused  him — unintentionally,  as  it  seems — to  return 
to  Europe. 

In  1598,  two  Dutch  vessels  arrived  at  Bahia 
in  order  to  trade  ;  but,  as  they  had  not  chosen  to 
furnish  themselves  with  a  licence  for  this  purpose 
from  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Spanish  authorities 
decided  to  seize  and  confiscate  them,  according  to 
the  usage  of  those  times.  In  order  to  effect  this, 
seven  vessels,  large  and  small,  lying  in  the  harbour, 
were  manned  with  soldiers  at  the  dead  of  night, 
others  being  posted  along  the  shore  to  prevent 
information  being  given  to  the  Dutchmen  on  board, 
and  as  many  of  the  latter  as  were  on  shore  were 
arrested.  Nevertheless,  Miguel  Duez  determined 
to  give  the  Dutchmen  warning.  Munk's  biographer 
says  that,  in  so  doing,  he  was  moved  by  an  honest 
care  for  the  Dutchmen,  which,  perhaps,  implies  that 
he  had  business  relations  with  them  ;  but  he  was 
probably  moved  quite  as  much  by  the  hatred  of  the 
patriotic  Portuguese  against  their  new  Spanish 
masters.  Howbeit,  at  the  request  of  Duez,  Munk 
swam  out  to  the  Dutch  vessels  in  the  roadstead 
and  informed  them  of  their  danger — in  the  very 
nick  of  time,  as  it  turned  out ;  for  no  sooner 
had  they  cut  their  cables  and  set  sail,  than  the 
Spaniards  were  upon  them.  The  Dutch,  how- 
ever, succeeded  in  beating  them  off  and  getting 
away  ;  and  Jens  Munk  (who,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances,  could    not  have    returned    to  Bahia  if 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  Xlll 

he  had  wished  to  do  so)  sailed  with  them  to 
Amsterdam. 

The  owners  of  the  Dutch  ships  showed  their 
gratitude  to  Munk  by  liberal  presents  and  offers  of 
employment ;  and,  when  he  declined  the  latter,  they 
enabled  him  to  return  to  Copenhagen,  where  he  is 
believed  to  have  arrived  in  the  same  year  (1598), 
after  an  absence  from  Denmark  of  seven  years. 
Meanwhile  his  father  had  died  in  prison.  It  does 
not  appear  that  his  cause  was  ever  formally  adjudi- 
cated upon,  presumably  because  he  died  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  intricate  inquiry  and  of  the  com- 
plicated lawsuits  which  arose  out  of  his  various 
transactions.  He  appears  to  have  tried,  but  in  vain, 
to  appeal  to  the  King's  former  gracious  disposition 
towards  him,  and  at  last,  in  the  year  1594,  to  have 
ended  his  existence  by  suicide.  Owing  to  this 
circumstance,  all  his  property,  as  has  been  observed,1 
was  liable  to  be  forfeited.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Crown  did  retain  possession  of  all  his  landed 
property,  a  very  small  part  of  his  personal  effects 
being,  as  a  matter  of  grace,  returned  to  his  family  in 
1598,  whilst  another  portion  is  believed  to  have 
been  applied  to  a  public  purpose.2 

Although  only  nineteen  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  his  arrival  at  Copenhagen,  Jens  Munk  at  once 
obtained    employment    as    clerk    or   accountant    on 

1  According  to  H.  D.  Lind,  Kong  Christian  den  Fjerde  og 
hans  Moznd  paa  Bremer  holm  (Copenhagen,  1889),  p.  193. 

2  Oluf  Nielsen,  Kjobenhavns  Historie,  etc.  (Copenhagen,  1877), 
vol.  iv,  p.  216. 


xiv  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

board  a  vessel  in  which  he  made  four  voyages  to 
Spain.  At  that  period,  Danish  noblemen  engaged 
not  a  little  in  commercial  undertakings,  for  which 
they  enjoyed  special  privileges  ;  and,  in  1601,  Munk 
entered  the  service  of  one  of  these  enterprising 
seigneurs,  Henrik  Ramel  by  name,  a  member  of  the 
Rigsraad  (or  Council  of  the  Realm),  and  a  great 
man— the  same  after  whom  Hall,  in  1605,  named 
a  fjord  in  Greenland  "  Ramel's  Fjord".  In  his 
service,  Munk  made,  during  four  years,  fifteen 
voyages  as  merchant,  mostly  to  Baltic  ports,  one 
to  Holland,  and  one  to  Spain. 

By  the  end  of  this  time,  Munk  seems  to  have 
acquired  sufficient  means  to  commence  operations 
on  his  own  account;  and,  from  1605,  we  find  him 
making  voyages  to  different  countries  in  the  com- 
bined characters  of  sea-captain  and  merchant,  though 
at  first  only  as  part-owner  of  ship  and  cargo.  One 
of  these  involved  him  in  a  lawsuit,  of  which  some 
record  is  still  extant.  It  must  have  been  at  this 
time,  when  he  commenced  more  or  less  independent 
voyages,  that  he  had  himself  enrolled  as  a  citizen 
of  Copenhagen,  without  which  he  would  not  have 
had  a  legal  status  in  such  undertakings. 

At  the  period  in  question,  the  northern  seas 
were  attracting  considerable  attention  as  a  field 
both  of  geographical  discovery  and  commercial 
enterprise.  It  was  then  that  the  expeditions  to 
Greenland  treated  of  in  the  First  Book  of  this 
volume  were  sent  out,  and  both  the  Danish  govern 
ment    and    private   individuals  bestirred  themselves 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XV 

in  order  to  secure  a  share  of  any  advantages 
that  might  be  reaped  in  those  northern  latitudes. 
Munk,  too,  soon  threw  himself  into  this  new  line 
of  adventure.  It  is  recorded  that  in  1608  he  sailed 
to  Iceland  to  fetch  home  a  cargo  of  sulphur  from 
the  rich  deposits  at  Husavik.  In  the  following  year, 
he  joined  a  prominent  merchant  of  Copenhagen, 
Jens  Hvid,  in  an  expedition  to  Nova  Zembla,  each 
sailing  in  his  own  vessel.  But  they  never  reached 
their  destination  at  all.  Jens  Hvid  appears  to  have 
stopped  at  some  port  on  the  main-land,  while  Munk 
attempted  to  press  further  on  ;  but  he  did  not  get 
much  beyond  the  island  of  Kulguew,  the  coasts  of 
which  he  explored.  His  biographer  of  1723  states 
that  he  reached  a  latitude  of  690  8',  and  that  he 
there  took  care  to  observe  the  magnetic  variation, 
which  he  found  amounted  to  two  points.  On  the 
coast  of  this  island,  Munk's  vessel  was  caught  in 
the  ice  and  became  a  wreck,  so  that  he  and  his 
crew  were  obliged  to  take  to  their  boat,  and  only 
after  a  difficult, voyage  succeeded  in  rejoining  Hvid. 
On  the  return  journey,  they  visited  Archangel,  and 
the  biographer  just  mentioned  reproduces  from 
Munk's  notes  some  elaborate  sailing  instructions 
for  the  approach  to  that  place.  By  this  unlucky 
expedition,  Munk  suffered  considerable  pecuniary 
loss  ;  nevertheless,  we  find  him  attempting  Nova 
Zembla  again  in  the  following  year,  but  it  was  not 
on  his  own  account. 

The  young  and  active  King  Christian  IV  exerted 
himself   in    every    way,    in     order    to    develop    the 


XVI  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

commerce  of  his  subjects,  which,  on  account  of  the 
geographical  position  of  Denmark,  had  to  be  carried 
on  chiefly  by  sea.  He  was  himself  passionately 
fond  of  the  sea.  Twice  he  sailed  to  England  to 
visit  his  brother-in-law,  James  I.  Almost  every 
year  he  sailed  to  Norway,  sometimes  twice  in  one 
year.  Once  he  visited  the  whole  coast  of  Norway, 
rounding  the  North  Cape  and  proceeding  as  far  as 
Vardohuus,  on  which  occasion  he  himself  acted  as 
Admiral  of  his  fleet  under  the  name  of  Captain 
Christian  Frederiksen,1  no  one  being  allowed  to 
address  him  otherwise.  He  afterwards  showed 
himself  an  able  and  gallant  naval  commander,  and 
was  emphatically  the  Sailor  King  of  Denmark.  In 
order  to  encourage  his  subjects,  he  frequently  assisted 
their  seafaring  ventures  with  money,  ships,  and 
men,  and  sent  out  expeditions  to  explore  and  open 
up  new  fields  for  enterprise.  Acting  in  this  spirit, 
he  despatched  two  ships  in  1610  to  Nova  Zembla, 
which  had  previously  been  the  object  of  several 
English  and  Dutch  expeditions  (as,  for  instance, 
those  commanded  by  Henry  Hudson)  undertaken 
partly  with  a  view  of  trading  in  these  regions,  and 
partly  with  a  view  to  the  discovery  of  a  North-east 
Passage  to  India.  The  ships  in  question  were  the 
Angelibrand  (which  had  been  to  Greenland  in  1606 
and  1607,  under  the  command  of  Carsten  Richardson) 
and  a  pinnace  called  Rytteren.  The  former  was 
now  commanded    by  Jens  Munk,  who  most  likely 

1  His  father  was  Frederick  II. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XV11 

was  engaged  for  this  service  because  he  had  been 
in  those  parts  before.  His  mates  were  Anders 
Nolk,  who  had  commanded  the  smallest  of  the 
vessels  that  were  sent  to  Greenland  in  1606,  and 
Hans  Brock,  who  was  also  to  act  as  interpreter,  and 
of  whom  we  shall  hear  again.  The  pinnace  was 
commanded  by  Knud  Madsen,  he  having  as  mates 
Anders  Oluffsen  and  Johan  Stenge,  and  as  inter- 
preter Niels  Munk,  Jens  Munk's  elder  brother, 
who  in  the  instruction  is  described  as  "our 
Russian  interpreter".1  The  two  vessels  were  to 
act  independently,  but  were  to  keep  together  as 
far  as  possible  for  mutual  assistance.  They  were 
instructed  to  land  at  Kildin,  a  trading-place  not  far 
from  Kola,  the  goods  with  which  they  were  to  trade, 
and  from  thence  to  proceed  to  Nova  Zembla  and  to 
examine  the  coast  from  lat.  69°  or  70°,  as  far  as  lat. 
74°,  or  even  760,  if  the  ice  should  permit.  If  anything 
in  the  shape  of  saleable  goods  could  be  obtained, 
they  were  to  make  a  cargo.  Finally,  they  were 
ordered,  before  returning,  to  proceed  two  days'  sail 
into  Waygatz  Strait,  in  order  to  ascertain  what 
conditions  it  offered  for  navigation — no  doubt  with 
a  view  to  the  possibility  of  finding  a  North-east 
Passage  to  China.  Munk,  however,  was  not  suc- 
cessful. He  brought  his  vessel  home  again  safe 
and  sound,  but  with  no  better  cargo  than  fish,  which 
he  had  taken  on  board  at  Kildin,  having  been  quite 
unable  to  reach   Nova  Zembla  on  account  of  the 

1  Norske  Register,  3,  fol.  362. 


XVlii      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

great  quantity  of  drifting  ice,  and  because  the  crew- 
had  neglected  to  supply  themselves  with  sufficient 
warm  clothing  to  withstand  the  cold  ;  nor  had  his 
companion  been  more  fortunate. 

On  the  first  of  March  in  the  following  year  (161 1), 
on  the  outbreak  of  a  war  with  Sweden,  Munk 
obtained  a  commission  as  a  Captain  in  the  Danish 
Navy,  with  a  pay  of  200  Rixdollars  annually,  and 
he  soon  found  opportunity  of  distinguishing  himself. 
He  was  at  once  sent  to  that  division  of  the  fleet 
which  was  stationed  in  the  mouth  of  the  Gotha  Elf, 
watching  the  entrance  to  Gothenburg  and  the  small, 
but  strong,  fortress  of  Elfsborg,  which  was  situated 
on  a  rocky  island.  He  was  at  first  to  serve  as  a 
lieutenant  to  Admiral  Jorgen  Daa,  who  commanded 
the  Heringsnes ;  but,  later  on,  he  took  command  of 
one  of  the  smaller  vessels  called  Den  Sorte  Hund 
{The  Black  Dog).  Amongst  the  Danish  ships  here 
was  also  Den  Rode  Love,  which  had  been  to  Green- 
land in  1605  and  1606,  commanded  this  time  by  the 
before-mentioned  Anders  Nolk.  On  the  23rd  May, 
Munk  took  part  in  a  naval  action  ;  and,  a  few  days 
after,  he  captured  a  Dutch  vessel  laden  with  supplies 
for  the  fortress,  an  event  which  must  have  been 
considered  of  importance,  as  it  is  related  in  Niels 
Slange's  work  on  the  history  of  Christian  IV, 
though  without  mention  of  Munk's  name.1  The 
Danish  Admiral  was  ordered  to  capture  or  destroy 


1  Den  stor?n.  Konges  Christian  den  Fierdes  .  .  .  Historie  (Copen- 
hagen, 1747,  fol.),  p.  207. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.        xix 

seven  Swedish  vessels  which  were  lying  under  the 
cannons  of  the  fortress,  and  this  was  accordingly 
attempted  on  the  night  of  the  2  7th  of  November.  On 
this  occasion,  Jens  Munk  commanded  the  leading  boat, 
but  the  attack  did  not  succeed,  because  the  Danes 
were  discovered  too  early  and  compelled  by  the  guns 
of  the  fortress  to  retire,  after  having  set  fire  to  the 
largest  of  the  Swedish  ships,  called  Hector.  The 
Swedes,  sallying  out  from  Elfsborg,  extinguished  the 
flames,  and  the  Danes  had  to  content  themselves 
with  no  greater  booty  than  three  of  the  ships'  flags, 
which  were  afterwards  suspended  with  other  trophies 
in  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  ( Vor  Frue  Kirke)  at 
Copenhagen.  This  account  (which  is  found  in  the 
oft-mentioned  biography  of  Munk  of  1723)  differs 
from  that  given  in  the  work  of  Slange,1  who  refers 
the  attempt  to  the  27th  of  December,  and  says  that 
the  Swedes  set  fire  to  the  Hector,  that  the  Danes 
extinguished  it,  and  that  they  succeeded  in  bringing 
out  the  Swedish  vessels,  which  they  carried  with 
their  own  fleet  to  Copenhagen.  Some  writers  even 
speak  of  two  attacks.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Slange  has  made  a  mistake,  and  that  the  ships  were 
not  captured  in  161 1,  a  fact  which  testifies  to  the 
truthfulness  of  the  biography  and  of  Munk's  notes 
on  which  it  is  founded.  We  learn  from  this  that 
Munk  remained  with  the  fleet  before  Elfsborg  until 
the  severity  of  the  winter  compelled  them  to  leave 
about    Christmas.       Adverse    winds     drove    them 

1  Op.  at.,  pp.  299-300. 

b  2 


XX  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-T62O. 

to  seek  winter-quarters  at  Kallundborg,  instead 
of  at  Copenhagen  ;  and,  in  the  month  of  March,  in 
the  following  year  (1612),  Munk  was  sent  to  that 
place  in  order  to  refit  the  vessels  that  had  wintered 
there,  and  to  repair  to  Elfsborg  with  them,  taking 
himself  the  command  of  the  Heringsnes.  This 
he  accordingly  did,  and  placed  himself  under  the 
command  of  Admiral  Daa,  who  arrived  from  Copen- 
hagen with  other  ships,  but  Munk  retained  the 
command  of  the  Heringsnes.  Soon  after,  the  King 
arrived  in  order  to  reduce  the  fortress,  having  with 
him  considerable  land  forces,  amongst  which  were 
two  regiments  of  English  and  Scotch  mercenaries. 
In  the  operations  which  followed,  Munk  played  a 
considerable  part.  First,  he  was  ordered  to  cover 
with  his  guns  the  landing  of  the  troops.  In  the 
next  place,  it  was  Munk  who,  with  his  sailors,  cut 
the  trenches.  After  this,  he  succeeded,  under  cover 
of  night,  in  bringing  a  couple  of  smaller  vessels  past 
the  fortress,  thereby  cutting  off  the  supplies  which 
had  been  nightly  brought  to  it  by  water.  Niels 
Slange1  gives  Munk  the  whole  credit  of  this  difficult 
operation,  but  the  biographer  from  whom  we  gather 
these  details  modestly  says  that  Munk  assisted  the 
Admiral  in  getting  the  vessels  round.  Munk  next 
pushed  the  trenches  close  to  the  walls  of  the  fortress, 
and  assisted  in  the  landing  of  the  siege-guns  and 
the  mounting  of  them  in  the  batteries  prepared  for 
them.      Finally,    he    conducted    mining    operations 

1  Op.  tit.,  p.  309. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XXI 

against  the  walls.     Then  he  returned  to  his  ordinary 
duties,  and,  with  his  ship,  the  Heringsnes,  escorted 
a  Danish  fleet  of  transports  laden  with  necessaries 
for  the  army.     On  the   23rd  of  May,   the   fortress 
surrendered,   one  of  the  articles  of  the  capitulation 
being  to  the  effect  that  the  six  vessels  which  still 
remained  under  the  walls  of  the  fortress  should  be 
handed   over   to    the    Danes.        The    Swedes    had 
scuttled  the  vessels  just  before  the  surrender  ;  but 
both   Slange  and   Munk's  biographer  say  that  the 
Danes  at  once    raised  them,    and,    after    repairing 
them,  sent  them  to  reinforce  their  own  fleet.     This 
event    has    a    special    interest    in    connection    with 
Munk's  subsequent    expedition    to    Hudson's    Bay, 
because    one    of    them    was    called   Lampreten   or 
Lamprenen  ;  and,  as  there  was  no  other  vessel  in 
the   Danish   Navy  of  that   name,   it   was  doubtless 
the  same  which  Munk  had  with  him  on  that  voyage. 
Later  in    the  summer,    Jens   Munk  was  placed   in 
command   of   the   transports  and  victualling  ships, 
and  he  meditated  an  important  expedition  into  the 
interior  of  Sweden  by  way  of  the  lakes,  when  his 
activity  was   arrested    by  the   outbreak   of   a    very 
malignant    disease    amongst    the    English    soldiers. 
It    proved    fatal    so    quickly    that    Munk    had    the 
greatest  difficulty  in    getting   the   sick    transported 
to  the  hospitals  at  Marstrand,  which  had  to  be  done 
by  sea.     At  last,  having  fallen  ill  himself,   he  was 
compelled  to  go  home  on   sick-leave,   and   it  was 
only  after  the  lapse  of  eighteen  weeks  that  he  was 
restored  to  health. 


Xxil        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace,  in  the  early 
part  of  161 3,  Munk  was  sent  with  a  fleet  to  the 
East  Coast  of  Sweden,  in  order  to  fetch  home 
troops,  etc.  ;  and,  immediately  on  his  return  in  the 
month  of  April,  he  was  entrusted  with  a  charge 
of  quite  a  different  nature,  for  which  his  business 
habits  and  his  knowledge  of  languages  qualified 
him.  A  special  Embassy  was  being  sent  to  Spain, 
and  Munk  was  ordered  to  accompany  it  as  inter- 
preter and  purser.  On  the  16th  of  April,  the 
Embassy  sailed  from  Copenhagen  in  the  Victor  and 
the  Swedish  Hector  (the  largest  of  the  vessels 
taken  at  Elfsborg,  and  so-called  to  distinguish  it 
from  an  older  Danish  ship  of  that  name).  On 
the  6th  of  May,  they  arrived  at  Corunna.  The 
Danish  Ambassadors,  Jacob  Ulfeldt  and  Jonas 
Carisius,  were  accompanied  by  a  suite  of  not  less 
than  ten  noblemen,  amongst  whom  were  several 
bearers  of  names  which  afterwards  became  historical 
in  Denmark,  such  as  Palle  Rosenkrantz  and  Christen 
Thomaesen.  They  were  hospitably  entertained  at 
Corunna — the  ambassadors  at  the  Governor's  Palace, 
the  others  by  the  principal  inhabitants — until  the 
24th  of  May,  when  orders  were  received  from 
Madrid,  after  which  they  were  conducted  at  the 
Governor's  expense  as  far  as  Villafranca,  where 
they  arrived  on  the  31st.  From  thence  to  Madrid 
they  travelled  at  their  own  expense,  and  at  Villa- 
franca they  had  to  pay  custom  duties  on  their 
luggage,  amounting  to  not  less  than  8,000  reals. 
At  Madrid  they  were  well  received  and  entertained 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.         XX111 

until  the  3rd  of  July,  when  the  Ambassadors  had 
their  Audience  of  Leave  at  the  Escurial.  The  party- 
then  divided,  Jacob  Ulfeldt,  with  two  of  the  suite, 
returning  through  France,  while  the  others  returned 
in  the  ships  and  arrived  at  Copenhagen  on  the  30th 
of  July. 

Next  year  (1614),  Munk  was  again  employed  in 
conducting  Ambassadors,  but  this  time  in  a  different 
capacity.  Some  Russian  Ambassadors,  who  had 
been  in  Denmark  for  many  months,  desired  to 
return  to  their  home  by  way  of  Archangel  (Russia 
possessing  at  that  time  no  ports  on  the  Baltic) ;  and 
Munk,  who  had  been  there  before,  as  we  have  told, 
was  commanded  to  convey  them  there  in  his  old 
ship  the  Heringsnes.  A  number  of  other  persons 
went  by  the  ship,  amongst  them  Munk's  eldest 
brother,  Niels  Munk,  who,  it  is  stated,  was  sent 
to  Archangel  on  the  King's  service.  It  was  at 
that  time  that  Christian  IV  sailed  to  England  on 
his  second  visit,  so  that  Munk  cannot  have  accom- 
panied him  there. 

In  161 5,  Munk  was  again  afloat  on  board  the 
Victor,  this  time  as  lieutenant  to  his  former  chief, 
Admiral  Jorgen  Daa,  who  was  sent  with  this  ship  and 
another  to  the  North  Sea  to  look  after  pirates  and 
foreign  vessels  fishing  off  the  coast  of  Norway  with- 
out proper  licence.  Of  the  latter,  they  confiscated 
several  with  valuable  cargoes  :  of  the  former,  they 
captured  two,  one  an  Englishman  named  Thomas 
Tucker,  and  the  other  a  certain  Mendoses,  whose 
nationality  is    not   mentioned,      The   pirates    were 


XXIV      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605162O. 

first  heard  of  by  the  Danish  ships  at  the  Faeroes, 
where  they  had  committed  many  lawless  acts,  and 
Tucker,  whose  ship  was  wrecked,  was  taken  prisoner 
on  one  of  the  islands.  It  is  related  that,  when  the 
Danes  came  upon  him  and  his  crew,  one  half  of  the 
latter,  who  were  Irish,  escaped,  but  the  other  half 
of  the  crew,  who  were  English,  stood  by  their 
captain  and  shared  his  fate — that  of  being  hanged — 
excepting  a  black  man,  whose  life  was  spared  in 
consideration  of  his  consenting  to  act  as  hangman. 
Mendoses  was  not  overtaken  by  the  Danes  till  they 
arrived  at  Kildin,  or  Kjelden,  the  above-mentioned 
port  in  the  Arctic  Sea,  near  Kola,  where  he  was 
only  captured  after  a  desperate  struggle,  as  he  had 
several  vessels,  one  of  which  was  armed  with  eight 
cannons,  the  crews  numbering  seventy-two.  As 
many  of  his  men  as  could  not  prove  that  they  were 
serving  under  compulsion  were  put  to  death  then 
and  there.  Mendoses  and  two  of  his  officers  after- 
wards suffered  the  same  fate  at  Copenhagen.  Such 
was  the  rough  and  ready  justice  of  those  days. 

In  1 616,  Munk  was  in  the  North  Sea  on  the 
same  errand,  as  lieutenant  to  Frants  Brockenhuus, 
who  had  three  ships  under  his  command,  but  he  re- 
turned early,  as  there  was  no  need  of  their  presence. 

Meanwhile  Munk  had  again  turned  his  attention 
to  private  enterprise  in  the  Arctic  Seas,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  Arctic  Whale  Fishery,  which  was 
then  just  commencing  to  become  a  source  of  profit 
to  various  nations,  but  in  which  the  inhabitants 
of  Denmark  and  Norway  had  hitherto  taken  little 


MUNKS  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XXV 

or  no  part,  although  so  favourably  situated  for  it. 
A  company,  in  which  Munk  was  a  partner,  was 
formed  at  Copenhagen ;  but  there  was  this  difficulty : 
that  the  chase  of  the  whales,  and  the  proper  treat- 
ment of  their  huge  bodies  for  the  extraction  of  oil 
and  whalebone,  was  an  art  with  which  nobody  in 
Denmark  was  properly  familiar.  In  order  to  make 
a  beginning,  skilled  hands  had,  therefore,  to  be 
secured  from  abroad.  None  at  that  time  had  a 
greater  reputation  for  knowledge  of  everything 
belonging  to  the  whale  fishery  than  the  seamen 
from  the  coasts  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  The 
Biscayans  were  the  original  whale-fishers  of  the 
world,  and  had  carried  on  the  Atlantic  Whale 
Fishery  for  centuries  with  so  great  vigour  that 
the  species  of  whale  which  they  hunted  had  be- 
come well-nigh  extinct,  and  the  fishery  would 
have  ceased  if  whales  (particularly  the  Greenland 
Whale,  closely  resembling  the  Biscayan  Whale) 
had  not  been  discovered  in  great  numbers  in  the 
Arctic  Seas,1  to  which,  consequently,  the  Biscayans 
transferred  their  operations.  Munk,  therefore,  de- 
cided to  procure  men  from  these  parts,  as,  in- 
deed, was  the  custom   in   England    in  those  days. 

1  For  a  long  time  it  was  thought  that  Greenland  Whale  was 
none  other  than  that  anciently  hunted  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and 
the  Atlantic,  which,  it  was  imagined,  had  retired  from  its  pursuers 
to  the  Arctic  Seas ;  and  it  is  barely  forty  years  ago  that  the  strand- 
ing of  a  specimen,  a  female  with  its  young,  at  Pampelona,  afforded 
the  great  authority  on  whales,  Professor  Eschricht,  an  opportunity 
of  proving  that  they  are  distinct  species  {Ba/cena  tnysticelus  and 
B.  biscayensis). 


XXVI      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

With  this  view  he  set  out  in  November  1616,  and 
proceeded  to  St.  Jean  de  Luz,  the  head-quarters 
of  the  Biscayan  whale-fishers.  There  his  efforts 
to  engage  men  were  not  successful  ;  but  in  Bor- 
deaux he  was  able  to  make  arrangements  with  a 
certain  Jan  Lonighem,  a  Biscayan,  who  undertook 
to  supply  eighteen  men  skilled  in  the  fishery.  It 
appears  that  some  person  in  authority  (whose  name 
is  given  as  the  Count  of  Gramante)  threw  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  the  men  leaving  the  country  with 
Munk,  in  order  to  extort  a  large  bribe  from  the 
latter.  But  Munk  arranged  with  the  men  to  go  by 
themselves  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  joined  them. 
Several  other  companies  for  carrying  on  the  whale- 
fishery  were  afterwards  formed  in  Denmark,  one  of 
them  under  the  King's  immediate  patronage,  and 
others  followed  Munk's  example  in  engaging  Bis- 
cayans  ;  but  Munk  has  the  credit  of  being  the  first 
to  introduce  this  industry  into  Denmark,  where 
it  has  since  been  very  nourishing,  though  Munk 
himself  lost  money  over  it.  He  was  interested  in 
three  whaling  voyages,  and  it  even  seems  as  if 
he  went  out  himself  in  161 7,  for  his  biographer 
says  that  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  this  business 
"because  the  King  had  lent  him  to  go  to  India". 

The  fact  was  that  Christian  IV,  ever  alert,  had 
resolved  to  avail  himself  of  certain — at  least  ap- 
parently— favourable  opportunities  for  opening  up 
trade  with  India.  An  East  India  Company  had 
been  formed  in  Copenhagen  in  16 16,  powerfully 
supported    by  the    King   himself;    but    it    was    not 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.       XXV11 

till  1618  that  the  first  expedition  was  sent  out, 
for  which  the  Company  obtained  from  the  King 
leave  to  employ  the  most  travelled  and  experienced 
officer  in  the  Danish  Navy,  Jens  Munk.  In  the 
biography  of  1723,  we  are  told  that,  on  the  20th  of 
February  16 18,  Munk  received  orders  to  get  ready 
for  this  expedition  three  ships,  called  Christian, 
Kjobenhavn,  and  Oresund.  He  was,  however, 
left  to  make  his  own  terms  with  the  Company  as 
regards  his  service ;  and,  as  he  did  not  consider 
that  the  Company  fulfilled  the  promises  originally 
made  to  him,  he  asked  and  obtained  the  King's 
leave  to  decline.  However,  Munk  showed  his 
interest  in  the  enterprise  by  subscribing  a  round 
sum  of  money  towards  it.  The  expedition,  fitted 
out  on  a  larger  scale  than  appears  to  have  been 
intended  at  first,  sailed  in  November,  161 8,  under 
command  of  Ove  Gjedde. 

In  the  following  year  (1619),  Jens  Munk's  old 
chief,  Admiral  Jorgen  Daa,  died,  as  it  seems,  in 
poor  circumstances  ;  and  it  is  recorded  that  Munk 
charged  himself  with  the  expenses  of  his  funeral, 
which,  however,  the  family  afterwards  refunded. 
He  was  soon  again  in  active  work  ;  and,  instead 
of  going  to  India  round  the  Cape,  Munk  was, 
in  1 619,  sent  out  on  an  attempt  to  reach  the 
far  East  by  the  Passage  which  at  that  time — 
particularly  since  the  discovery  of  Hudson's  Bay 
— was  generally  believed  to  exist  round  the  North 
of  America,  but  which  still  had  to  be  discovered. 
The  historian,  Niels  Slange,  states  in  explicit  terms 


XXVlii      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

that  it  was  Munk  himself  who  originally  proposed 
this  expedition  j1  and,  if  this  be  so,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  understand  how  Munk  may  have  been  led  to  con- 
ceive such  a  plan,  considering  his  restlessly  active 
nature  and  the  adventurous  spirit  of  which  he  had 
given  proof  since  his  early  youth.  For  years  he  had 
been  familiar  with  the  northern  seas,  where  the 
passage  would  have  to  be  sought,  and  he  would 
very  naturally  be  attracted  by  the  idea  of  exploring 
the  far  western  portion  of  them,  where  he  had 
not  yet  been.  The  discoveries  of  English  explorers 
were  known  over  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  would 
excite  as  lively  an  interest  in  Denmark  as  anywhere, 
particularly  because  the  supposed  passage  was 
thought  to  be  situated  not  far  from  Greenland, 
in  which  country  a  great  deal  of  interest  continued 
to  be  taken  in  Denmark.  Munk  himself  was  just 
the  man  to  feel  a  desire  to  emulate  those  discoveries 
and  to  secure  for  his  native  country  a  share  in  the 
advantages  that  might  result  from  the  discovery  of 
a  passage.  The  very  fact  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Danish  East  India 
Company  may  very  possibly  have  been  an  addi- 
tional inducement  to  him  ;  for  it  was  commonly 
thought  that  the  northern  route  would  prove  very 
much  shorter  than  that  round  the  Cape,  and  Munk 
may  have  flattered  himself  that  he  should  be  able, 
by  discovering  it,  to  put  the  churlish  Directors  of 
that  Company  to  shame. 

1   Op.  cit.,  p.  424. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.      xxix 

At  the  same  time,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
Slange's  work,  though  of  great  value,  is  by  no 
means  so  reliable  that  we  should  not  be  justified  in 
doubting,  on  reasonable  grounds,  an  otherwise-un- 
supported statement  of  his,  an  instance  of  which  we 
have  already  pointed  out.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
is  nothing  beyond  Slange's  statement  to  show  that 
Munk  himself  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in 
setting  this  undertaking  on  foot.  No  direct  evi- 
dence either  way  has  been  discovered ;  and,  as 
regards  the  indirect  evidence  offered  by  his  narra- 
tive, the  reader  must  judge  for  himself  whether 
it  appears  more  like  that  of  a  man  engaged  in 
realising  a  pet  scheme  of  his  own  than  the  report 
of  a  man  who  does  his  best  to  carry  out  the  orders 
of  his  superiors.  To  us,  the  latter  seems  the  more 
probable,  though  it  may  well  be  that  Munk  had  had 
his  interest  drawn  to  the  problem,  and  had  expressed 
a  desire  to  command  the  expedition  when  once  it 
had  been  decided  upon. 

What  has  been  said  above  of  the  disposition 
of  the  King  of  Denmark  fully  explains  how  he 
may  have  been  led  to  resolve  upon  such  an  ex- 
pedition, whether  suggested  by  anybody  else  or 
not.  Indeed,  there  is  a  fact  on  record  which  seems 
to  prove  that  the  matter  had  been  thought  of  some 
years  before.  Amongst  some  documents  referring 
to  Munk,  now  preserved  in  the  Danish  State 
Archives,1  there  is  a  paper  endorsed  :  Mr.   Haldz 

1  Ifidkomne  breve  til  Cancelliet,  1621. 


XXX       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Engelske  Styrmand  hans  Relation  om  America 
("The  Statement  of  Master  Hall,  the  English 
pilot,  concerning  America").  This  purports  to  con- 
tain the  opinion  of  an  English  pilot,  called  Hall,  on 
the  probability  of  a  passage  to  India  round  or 
through  the  North  of  America.  It  is  rather  care- 
lessly worded,  but  the  main  portion  of  it  runs  thus 
in  English  : — 

"  Unto  70  and  75.  There  he  verges  to  the  W.  or  the  S.W., 
according  to  how  open  the  sea  is,  because  there,  where  land  is 
marked  on  the  map  near  Anian  and  that  Strait,  there  is  doubtless 
water.  The  reason  is  as  follows  :  i°.  When  he  was  in  Greenland 
the  last  time,  now  lately,  he  found  such  a  strong  current,  which 
flowed  to  the  N.W.,  that  it  was  not  possible  otherwise  than  that 
there  must  be  an  open  sea  near  the  Strait  of  Anian  ;  nor  is  this  so 
narrow  as  it  is  indicated  in  the  marine  charts,  or  on  the  globe  ; 
for,  where  there  is  land  on  the  globe,  there  is  open  sea  and  water. 
20.  The  same  he  has  experienced  some  years  before,  when  he  sailed 
to  the  East  Indies.  They  had  there  an  Indian  pilot,  who  missed 
the  Course,  so  that  they  were  in  great  danger  of  their  lives.  Then 
they  observed  a  similar  strong  current,  which  they  followed,  con- 
sidering where  that  flowed  to  there  must  be  open  sea,  and  thus 
they  reached  a  good  harbour.  30.  Many  books  and  authorities 
are  of  opinion  that  there  is  a  passage  through  the  Strait  of 
Anian." 

After  a  reference  to  Stephanus  Gomez,  the  state- 
ment continues  : — 

"Besides,  he  would  attempt  to  proceed  towards  the  West  in 
61  and  lxj  degrees,  because  he  thinks  that  there,  too,  there  is  a 
passage  through  by  water.  When  one  has  passed  through  the 
Strait,  one  is  close  to  Cattaio,  China,  and  the  Tartar  ports,  and 
near  to  East  India.  N.B. — This  is  only  the  fifth  part  of  the 
length  of  the  other  route." 

Some  other  quotations  follow.  There  is  neither 
signature  nor  date  on  the  paper,  which  is  evidently 


MUNk's  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.         XXXI 

penned,  not  by  Hall,  but  by  some  other  person 
accustomed  to  write  Latin  (with  which  the  Danish 
is  interspersed)  who  had  received  this  information 
from  the  English  pilot — no  doubt  James  Hall,  who 
had  been  employed  on  the  Danish  expeditions  to 
Greenland  in  1605-6-7.  The  words  "  When  he  was 
in  Greenland  the  last  time,  now  lately"  (Der  handwor 
nu  seniste  gang  vdj  Gronland),  taken  literally,  imply 
that  this  statement  was  taken  down  not  long  after 
1607,  at  tne  latest.  In  any  case,  the  wording  of  it, 
and  the  absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  discovery  of 
Hudson's  Strait  and  Bay,  hardly  seem  compatible 
with  the  supposition  that  it  was  written  so 
late  as  1619,  many  years  after  Hall's  stay  in 
Denmark  and  subsequent  death.  On  the  face  of 
it,  this  paper  would  seem  to  show  that  when  those 
expeditions  to  Greenland  turned  out  so  barren 
of  results,  in  proportion  to  the  expense  incurred, 
there  was  in  some  official  quarters  a  thought  of 
attempting  a  search  like  that  afterwards  instituted 
by  Hudson  and  those  who  followed  in  his  track — a 
circumstance  which  would,  of  course,  facilitate  the 
adoption  of  such  a  plan  in  161 9. 

Before  proceeding  further,  we  may  note  in  passing 
that  some  writers1  have  stated  that  the  object  for 
which  Munk  was  sent  out  in  161 9  was  the  re- 
establishment  of  communication  with  the  ancient 
Scandinavian  colony  in  Greenland,  an  error  which 

1  For  instance,  Major,  in  his  valuable  treatise  The  Voyages  of 
the  Brothers  Zeno  (Hakluyt  Society,  1873),  P-  lxvii. 


XXxil       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-1620. 

may  be  traced  to  J.  H.  Schlegel's  abbreviated 
German  translation  of  Niels  Slange's  above-men- 
tioned work  on  the  history  of  Christian  IV.  Slange 
states,1  amongst  the  notable  events  of  the  year  1619, 
that,  in  that  year,  a  Greenland  Trading  Company, 
strongly  supported  by  the  King,  was  established  at 
Copenhagen,  and  sent  out  two  ships.  After  giving 
some  details  concerning  this  company,  he  proceeds, 
in  a  new  paragraph,  to  report  that  in  that  year  Jens 
Munk  was  sent  out  with  two  ships,  called  respectively, 
Enhiorningen  {The  Unicorn)  and  Lamprenen  (The 
Lamprey),  in  order  to  discover  the  North-West 
Passage.  Schlegel  appears  to  have  misunderstood 
these  statements  as  referring  to  one  and  the  same 
event ;  and,  very  unfortunately,  he  condenses  Slange's 
account  in  the  following  manner2 : — "  After  this,  a 
Greenland  Company  was  formed  in  Copenhagen, 
which  received  great  advantages  from  the  King, 
and  equipped  two  ships,  The  Unicorn  and  The 
Lamprey"  after  which  he  proceeds  to  describe 
Munk's  voyage.  This  is,  no  doubt,  the  source 
from  which  the  erroneous  statement  has  crept 
into  German  and  other  works. 

That  Munk  was  selected  to  lead  the  expedition 
of  1 6 1 9  was  very  natural,  even  if  he  had  not  himself 
either  suggested  the  undertaking  or  solicited  the 
command,    because    he    was    no    doubt    the    fittest 


1  Slange,  op.  at.,  p.  424. 

2  Geschichte  Christian  des  Vierten  .  .  .  von  Niels  Slangen  verfasst 
.  .  .  Kurzer  vorgetragen  .  .  .  von  /.  If.  Schlegeln  (Copenhagen, 
i757-i77i)>  iii,  P-  I26- 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.         XXX1U 

commander  that  could  be  found  amongst  the  Danish 
naval  officers  at  the  time.  He  was  not  only  a  brave 
man  and  an  experienced  practical  seaman — many  of 
his  colleagues  may  have  been  his  equal  in  these 
respects — but,  by  his  voyages  to  Nova  Zembla,  he 
had  gained  some  actual  experience  in  Arctic  navi- 
gation. Besides,  though  not  possessing  scientific 
training  (as,  indeed,  he  himself  admits  in  his  book), 
he  was  an  unusually  intelligent  man,  of  rare  per- 
severance, resource,  versatility,  and  trustworthiness 
— in  fact,  just  the  man  to  deal  conscientiously  and 
successfully  with  such  peculiar  combinations  of  cir- 
cumstances as  might  be  expected  to  arise  on  a 
voyage  of  the  kind  in  question. 

About  the  terms  on  which  Munk  served  on  this 
expedition — whether  any  special  pay  or  other  en- 
couragement was  given  him,  or  promised  him  in 
case  of  success — nothing  is  known.  The  only  Royal 
favour  recorded  in  regard  to  Munk  at  the  time  in 
question  is  the  following : — He  was  then  (it  is 
not  known  since  what  year)  a  married  man,  his 
wife's  name  being  Katherine  Adriansdatter,  and 
he  had  several  children.  By  an  order  of  April  8th, 
1619,1  Hans  Steffenson,  the  manager  of  the  Public 
School  at  Soro,  was  ordered  to  take  two  of  Jens 
Munk's  sons  on  the  foundation  as  soon  as  vacancies 
should  occur. 

The  events  of  Munk's  voyage  of  discovery  in 
1619-20  were  narrated  by  himself  in  a  book  entitled 

1  Sjcell.  Tegn.,  vol.  xxi. 


XXxiv      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

Navigatio  Septentrionalis  (published  at  Copenhagen 
in  Danish  in  1624),  which  forms  the  chief  subject 
of  the  present  Book  in  this  work  ;  and  there  is,  con- 
sequently, no  occasion  for  us  to  dwell  at  length  on 
those  events  in  this  place.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that 
he  left  Copenhagen  in  May  1619,  with  two  vessels, 
a  small  frigate,  called  Enhiorningen,  and  a  sloop, 
called  Lamprenen  ;  that  he  wintered  on  the  western 
coast  of  Hudson's  Bay,  in  the  mouth  of  a  river  for 
some  time  afterwards  known  as  Munk's  River,  but 
now  as  the  Churchill  River,  in  order  during  the 
following  summer  to  continue  his  explorations  ; 
but  that,  in  the  course  of  the  winter  and  spring,  the 
whole  of  the  two  crews  succumbed  to  the  scurvy, 
excepting  Munk  himself  and  two  others,  who,  after 
having  recovered,  succeeded  in  re-crossing  the  At- 
lantic in  the  smaller  of  the  two  vessels,  whilst 
the  larger  one  had  to  be  left  behind.  Munk  landed 
on  the  coast  of  Norway  on  the  20th  of  September 
1620,  after  a  difficult  and  perilous  voyage;  but 
troubles  did  not  leave  him  there.  It  appears  that 
one  of  his  sailors  (probably  one  of  the  fresh 
crew  which  he  at  once  obtained  for  his  vessel) 
committed  a  murder  whilst  they  were  at  Bergen,  and 
fled  from  justice,  on  account  of  which  Munk  and  his 
vessel  were  detained  by  the  authorities,  and  released 
only  in  obedience  to  an  express  order  of  the  King.1 
The  vessel  was  laid  up  for  the  winter  at  Bergen, 
and  Munk  proceeded  to  Copenhagen,  where  he  did 

1  Norske  Tegn.,  iv,  fol.  187. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.         XXXV 

not  arrive  till  Christmas  Day,  1620,  unfortunately, 
without  having  effected  anything  of  what  had  been 
hoped  for. 

The  failure  of  this  expedition,  which  is  stated  to 
have  cost  (besides  the  many  lives,  the  larger  ship,  and 
the  ordinary  stores)  some  5,000  Rixdollars  in  cash, 
must,  of  course,  have  been  very  disappointing  to 
the  King,  as  well  as  to  Munk  himself;  and  so  much 
the  more  so,  as  the  misfortunes  of  the  expedition 
seemed  in  the  main  to  be  due  to  preventable  causes. 
There  was  no  saying  but  that  Munk,  if  he  and 
his  men  had  wintered  in  good  health,  might  have 
succeeded  in  finding  the  supposed  passage  ;  whilst 
the  sickness  which  carried  off  the  crews  almost 
to  a  man  would  naturally  appear  to  be  due  (or,  at 
least,  to  owe  its  terrible  mortality)  to  insufficient 
preparations.  As  regards  the  necessity  of  specially 
warm  clothing,  Munk  had  gained  experience  on 
his  expeditions  to  Nova  Zembla  ;  but  he  evidently 
had  not  any  idea  of  the  severity  of  the  winter 
that  would  have  to  be  encountered  in  Hudson's 
Bay.  This  was  but  natural,  for,  owing  to  the 
action  of  the  Gulf  stream,  the  temperature  does  not 
fall  anything  like  so  low  in  those  parts  of  the  Arctic 
Sea  with  which  Munk  was  acquainted  as  it  does 
under  the  same  latitude  in  North  America.  He 
could  not  possibly  have  foreseen  that,  in  a  latitude 
below  590 — and  he  hoped  to  find  the  passage  not 
very  far  North  of  that  latitude — he  would  encounter 
a  climate  infinitely  colder  than  in  the  North  of 
Norway,    in    lat.    71°.       He    was    prepared    for    a 

c  2 


XXXvi     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

winter  such  as  is  experienced  in  the  North  of 
Norway,  but  not  for  a  winter  as  it  is  at  Churchill 
River,  of  the  severity  of  which  he  had  no  conception. 
However,  it  would  naturally  appear,  afterwards,  that 
a  good  supply  of  fur  clothing  would  have  saved  the 
expedition  from  the  terrible  effects  of  the  cold.  As 
regards  the  disease  of  scurvy,  he  was  well  aware  that 
a  diet  mainly  based  on  salt  meat  was  disastrous  ;  but, 
ignorant  as  he  was  of  the  character  of  the  climate,  he 
did  evidently  not  anticipate  so  great  a  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing fresh  meat  as  he  actually  experienced  in  the 
earlier  part  of  1620.  It  was  reasonable  to  think  that, 
if  the  expedition  had  been  well  supplied  with  smoked 
meat,  such  as  is  used  extensively  in  the  North  of 
Europe,  this  source  of  danger  might  have  been 
avoided.  Finally,  most  people  would  suppose  that 
better  medical  assistance  than  that  which  had 
been  at  Munk's  command  in  1619-20  might  have 
averted  the  terrible  mortality,  which  spared — and 
only  just  spared — three  lives  only  out  of  sixty-four. 
Many  minor  defects  in  the  equipment  which  had  re- 
vealed themselves  during  the  wintering  at  Churchill 
River  might  also  easily  have  been  remedied. 

Considering  that  neither  Christian  IV,  nor  Munk, 
was  of  the  temper  that  readily  acquiesces  in  reverse, 
nothing  would,  under  the  circumstances,  be  more 
natural  than  the  sending  out,  as  soon  as  might  be, 
of  another  expedition  better  equipped,  in  order  to 
redress  the  failure.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising 
that  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  action  in  this 
direction  really  was  contemplated  is  met  with  in  the 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.       XXXVli 

earliest  account  we  have  of  what  happened  in  this 
connection  after  Munk's  return,  viz.,  in  La  Peyrere's 
Relation  du  Groenland  (Paris,  1647),  a  book  to  which 
we  have  had  occasion  to  allude  more  than  once 
in  connection  with  the  Expeditions  to  Greenland  in 
1605-6-7.  La  Peyrere  explicitly  says  (p.  269)  that 
Munk,  after  some  years,  became  desirous  of  repeat- 
ing the  voyage  in  hope  of  better  results  ;  that  he 
succeeded  in  enlisting  the  interest  of  several  wealthy 
persons  in  the  scheme  ;  and  that,  in  preparing  for  it, 
he  availed  himself  of  his  sad  experience,  and  strove 
to  avoid  the  mistakes  and  defects  of  which  he  had 
become  aware  on  the  former  voyage.  Until  lately, 
however,  this  statement  has  been  considered  doubt- 
ful at  the  best,  because,  in  La  Peyrere's  account,  it 
is  closely  interwoven  with  a  fantastic  story  about 
Munk's  death,  which  is  alleged  to  have  taken  place 
just  as  the  expedition  was  going  to  start.  The 
absurdity  of  this  story — to  which  we  shall  have  to 
allude  again — was  demonstrated  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  the  discredit 
attaching  to  it  should  have  been  extended  to  the 
statement  that  a  second  expedition  was  at  one  time 
intended.  Documents  preserved  in  the  Danish 
State  Archives,1  and  to  which .  M.  Lauridsen  was 
the  first  to  call  attention,2  prove,  however,  that  La 
Peyrere    was    rightly    informed    in    so    far    that    a 


1  Indkomne  Breve  til  Cancelliet,  1621. 

2  Jens  Munks  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  (Copenhagen,    1883)) 
pp.  xlvi-li  (see  post,  p.  lvii). 


XXXVlil      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

second  expedition  really  was  intended  ;  that  con- 
siderable preparations  were  made  for  it ;  and  that 
Munk,  in  superintending  these,  tried  to  improve 
in  every  respect  upon  the  first  equipment,  according 
as  experience  had  taught  him.  Only,  the  expedition 
was  not  a  private  undertaking,  as  stated  by  La 
Peyrere,  but  was  fitted  out  by  the  King  ;  and  this  took 
place  immediately  after  Munk's  return  from  his  first 
voyage,  not,  as  La  Peyrere  says,  several  years  later. 
As  La  Peyrere  also  states,  the  expedition  did  not 
start;  but  the  reason  which  he  assigns — Munk's  death 
at  the  last  moment — is  fictitious. 

The  principal  of  the  documents  referred  to  above 
is  a  sheet  endorsed  :  Jens  Munk ' s  Necessaria.  It 
reads  thus  in  English  : — 

"  Enumeration  of  all  that  I  can  think  of  now  in  haste,  and  that 
can  be  of  particular  use  for  this  voyage. 

1.  Good  medical  men,  particularly  for  scurvy. 

2.  Item  :  good  victuals,  and  smoked  meat  in  place  of  salted. 

3.  Item  :  good  beer  for  the  men,  some  wine  and  whisky. 

4.  For  the  people  of  [that  is,  who  are  to  remain  in]  the 

country,  flour,  malt,  some  victuals,  groats,  and  peas. 

5.  Item  :  all  sorts  of  seeds  and  corn. 

6.  Item :  sheep-skin  clothing  for  the  men,  stockings,  shoes 

and  boots,  fur  shoes,  blankets,  overcoats. 

7.  Item :  snow-shoes  [Skier]  wherewith   to    travel  on    the 

snow. 

8.  Item  :  some  craftsmen — smith,  shoemaker,  tailor,  brick- 

layer, cooper,  carpenter. 

9.  Vessels    for    brewing,   kettles,    hand-querns,    and   some 

small  millstones. 
10.   Pilot  (Styrmand)  not  to  be  forgotten. 
n.  One  who  understands  ores,  and  a  person  who  can  draw. 
12.  A  large  pinnace  and  three  Norwegian  jolly-boats. 


MUNKS  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON^  BAY.         XXXIX 

"  There  is,  however,  much  that  is  required  for  such  a  journey, 
but  which  one  cannot  think  of  in  a  hurry.  I  beg,  therefore,  that  I 
may  be  informed,  in  particular,  of  the  persons  who  are  to  supply 
all  that  is  necessary  for  such  a  voyage,  in  order  that  I  may  not 
trouble  Mr.  Chancellor  too  much,  and  that  everything  may  be 
ready  in  good  time. 

11  Item  :  it  is  particularly  necessary  that  the  people  who  are  to 
remain  in  the  country  should  be  mostly  such  as  understand  hunting 
and  fishing,  and  know  how  to  catch  animals  in  the  forest,  in  order 
that  His  Majesty  may,  in  some  measure,  recover  His  expenses  ; 
for  it  appears  that  this  would  be  the  most  profitable  trade  and 
occupation,  and  would  not  in  any  way  be  prejudicial  to  any 
expedition  by  land  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty.  Finally,  there 
must  necessarily  be  a  certain  authority  over  them,  for  the  better 
furtherance  of  justice  and  all  order. 

"  For  my  own  part,  I  am,  with  all  due  respect,  ready  to  serve  His 
Royal  Majesty,  my  gracious  Lord,  with  life  and  blood,  wherever 
and  whenever  I  am  commanded,  hoping  that  I,  poor  man,  my 
wife  and  children  may  be  provided  for,  so  as  to  have  what  we  can 
live  upon.  Likewise,  I  beg  Mr.  Chancellor  to  cause  Peter  Pai,  or 
some  physician,  to  be  ordered  to  attend  somewhat  to  me,  that 
I  may  quite  recover  my  health.  God  will  recompense  Your 
Worship."1 

This  memorandum  bears  neither  date  nor  signa- 
ture, but  the  contents  leave  no  doubt  as  to  its 
being  a  communication  from  Jens  Munk  stating, 
in  obedience  to  the  express  orders  of  the  King — 
which  seem  to  have  come  rather  suddenly  on  Munk 
— what  he  would  require  for  a  second  voyage  to 
the  Arctic  Regions.  It  is  evident  that  Munk,  taught 
by    experience,    had    tried,  as   La    Peyrere    relates 


1  The    Danish    expression    is  a  curious  one,   viz.,   Slrcenghed, 
iterally,  "Your  Severity" — a  form  of  speech  then  in  use  in  the 


North  of  Europe  and  in  Germany. 


xl  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-1620. 

to  improve  upon  the  outfit  which  had  been  pro- 
vided for  the  first  voyage.  We  also  learn  from 
unmistakeable  expressions  that  Munk  was  intended, 
first  of  all,  to  return  to  the  country  where  he  had 
wintered,  and  to  carry  thither  colonists,  with  a  view 
of  opening  up  a  fur  trade — or,  at  any  rate,  people 
who  were  to  remain  there  some  time. 

That  the  original  object  of  the  first  voyage — 
the  discovery  of  a  North- West  Passage — was  still 
to  be  pursued,  appears  from  the  second  of  the  docu- 
ments in  question,  which  is  inscribed,  "  A  List  of 
what  will  be  required  for  the  North-West  Passage  or 
Voyage".  It  is  a  memorandum  setting  forth  what 
supplies  had  been  ordered  for  the  proposed  expedi- 
tion, with  the  names  of  the  contractors — in  one  case, 
with  the  addition  that  Munk  would  give  more  de- 
tailed orders.  The  list  is  drawn  up  in  accordance 
with  Munk's  requisitions.  Special  mention  is  made 
of  remedies  against  scurvy,  which  were  to  be  sup- 
plied by  Peter  Payngk  (called  Peter  Pai  in  Munk's 
memorandum),  the  Court  Apothecary — a  man  who 
enjoyed  a  great  reputation  for  learning  in  chemistry, 
on  account  of  which  the  science-loving  Emperor 
Rudolf  1 1  at  one  time  had  him  to  reside  with  himself. 
Nor  was  the  necessity  forgotten  of  providing  the 
expedition  with  "old  and  experienced  surgeons,  who 
possess  a  knowledge  of  medicine". 

A  third  document  in  the  same  parcel  is  still  more 
explicit  as  to  the  destination  of  the  intended  new 
expedition,  and,  moreover,  gives  a  date.  It  is 
entitled:   "  Augmentation,  according  to   H.    M.   the 


MUNKS  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON'S  BAY.  xli 

King's  gracious  pleasure,  of  the  Pay  of  the  Crew 
which  is  to  sail  in  this  present  Year,  1621,  with 
Captain  Jens  Munk,  to  the  North- West  Passage." 
It  appears  from  this  paper  that  very  considerable 
augmentations  of  pay  were  offered  :  for  instance, 
besides  clothes,  the  captain's  pay  was  to  be  200 
Rixdollars  a  month— that  is,  as  much  as  Munk's 
ordinary  pay  was  per  annum.  The  number  in  each 
of  the  different  classes  of  men  is  not  stated  ;  but,  as 
there  is  mention  of  only  one  captain,  one  master- 
gunner,  etc.,  probably  only  one  large  vessel,  of  about 
the  same  size  as  Enhidrningen,  was  to  sail  ;  and,  as 
"the  sloop"  is  mentioned,  Lamprenen  was  probably 
to  sail  again.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  any 
spare  crew,  with  the  necessary  officers,  were  to  be 
taken  out  in  order  to  fetch  home  the  abandoned  ship. 
Evidently  the  preparations  for  this  new  expedition 
were  well  in  hand,  and  the  question  naturally 
suggests  itself :  Why  did  it  not  start  ?  Mr.  Lauridsen 
suggests,1  on  the  strength  of  Munk's  request  for 
medical  assistance,  that  his  health  may  have  suffered 
so  much  that  he  could  not  undertake  the  expedition 
at  the  time,  and  that  this  may  have  been  the  founda- 
tion of  La  Peyrere's  statement  that  Munk  took  to 
his  bed  instead  of  starting  on  his  voyage.  Nor  is 
this  hypothesis,  in  itself,  by  any  means  improbable, 
although,  of  course,  Munk  may  very  well  have  been 
so  much  invalided  as  to  require  a  doctor's  care 
at  the  time  when  the  new  expedition  was  decided 

1   Op.  tit.,  p.  lii. 


xlii         DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162C 

upon,  and  yet  have  been  quite  restored  by  the  time 
the  expedition  was  to  start.  But  there  are  several 
circumstances  which  would  fully  explain  the  post- 
ponement and  final  abandonment  of  the  scheme, 
without  that  hypothesis.  The  order  for  the 
increase  of  the  pay  of  the  crew  points  to  what 
may  have  been  a  serious  difficulty.  It  was  not  a 
service  on  which  men  could  very  well  be  commanded 
to  go  against  their  wish,  particularly  after  what  had 
happened  ;  and,  even  at  very  largely  increased 
pay,  it  may  have  been  difficult  to  get  together 
crews  such  as  Munk  would  care  to  take  out.  Still 
more  would  this  hold  good  with  regard  to  colonists, 
on  whose  exertions  in  obtaining  fur  the  King  would 
have  to  rely  for  some  return  for  his  outlay.  The 
King  is  extremely  likely  to  have  given  up  the  scheme 
altogether  if  he  could  not  realise  this  part  of  it.  A 
third  point  is  not  less  important.  Munk  requested 
particularly  that  a  Styrmand  (that  is,  a  mate) 
should  not  be  forgotten  ;  and  this,  of  course,  did 
not  refer  to  an  ordinary  mate,  who  would  be 
supplied  as  a  matter  of  Course.  What  Munk  wanted 
was  a  man  specially  acquainted  with  the  North- 
Western  Seas.  In  1619,  he  had  had  with  him 
two  English  mates,  who  had  been  specially  engaged 
to  act  as  pilots.  They  were  both  dead,  and 
Munk  wanted  the  place  of  the  principal  of  them 
filled  by  another  thoroughly  competent  man.  He 
had  found  his  way  home  from  the  Churchill  River 
by  himself,  and  was,  of  course,  perfectly  able  to 
sail  out  there  again  without  assistance.    But,  beyond 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.        xliii 

that,  he  was  to  search  for  a  North- West  Passage  ; 
and  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that,  for  this 
purpose,  he  considered  it  indispensable  to  have  at 
his  side  a  man  who,  from  his  own  personal  ex- 
perience, or  from  what  he  had  learnt  from  others, 
knew  as  much  about  that  problem  and  the  chances 
of  its  solution  as  could  be  known  beforehand.  But 
such  a  man  was  very  likely  not  to  be  found  just 
when  he  was  wanted. 

Nor  is  it  difficult  to  suggest  considerations  which 
may  have  caused  the  final  abandonment  of  the 
scheme,  when  first  it  had  been  postponed  for  one  or 
more  of  these  reasons.  The  expedition  to  the  East 
Indies  by  the  Cape  Route,  on  which  Munk  was  to 
have  served,  proved  very  successful ;  and  the  King 
would  scarcely  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  spend 
more  money  on  the  uncertain  venture  of  finding  a 
North- West  Passage  if  the  second  voyage  for  this 
purpose  had  been  postponed  until  the  trade  had 
been  opened  by  the  ordinary  route.  Besides  this, 
the  complications  arising  out  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  which  had  commenced  in  1618,  could  not  but 
engross  the  King's  attention.  The  probability  of 
his  being  drawn  into  that  conflict — as,  indeed,  he 
eventually  was,  with  most  disastrous  results — must 
very  soon  have  become  apparent,  and,  in  that  case, 
there  would  be  neither  men  nor  money  to  spare 
for  Arctic  expeditions. 

This  last  consideration  also  sufficiently  explains 
why  no  notice  appears  to  have  been  taken  of  an 
offer    made    in    1625    by    a    certain    Carolus    J  oris, 


xliv        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

amongst  other  things,  to  fetch  home  the  cannon 
which  Jens  Munk  had  left  behind  with  his  larger 
ship  in  Port  Churchill.1 

That  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  obtain  men  for 
such  distant  expeditions,  seems  to  be  proved  by  a 
fact  connected  with  the  first  business  on  which  Munk 
appears  to  have  been  employed  after  his  return  from 
Hudson's  Bay.     In  the  autumn  of  1621,  he  was  sent 


1  This  Joris  was  probably  none  other  than  the  well-known 
Dutch  cartographer  of  that  name,  who  already  in  16  r  5  had  been 
to  Davis  Strait  as  mate  (see  S.  Miiller,  The  Arctic  North-  West 
Passage,  Amsterdam,  1878,  p.  vii).  We  shall  have  to  refer  to 
him  again  as  a  cartographer  in  our  Appendix  A.  His  offer  to 
the  King  of  Denmark  is  contained  in  a  report  from  an  official  in 
Iceland,  preserved  in  the  Danish  State  Archives  {Indkomne  Breve 
til  Cancelliet,  1625),  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation  : — 

Anno  1625,  on  the  7th  of  September,  Master  Jorris  was  at 
Bessestad,  in  Iceland,  and  states  as  follows  : — That  he  was  a  pilot 
for  Greenland  to  his  Admiral,  whose  name  is  Adrien  Diricksen 
Leffuerstein,  who  is  now  expected  hither.  Master  Jorris,  afore- 
said, and  he  have  agreed  to  go  together  to  Greenland,  and  to  meet 
for  refreshment  at  Havnefjord  in  Iceland.  The  said  Master  Jorris 
reports  thus  of  their  voyage :  that  in  Greenland  they  have  obtained 
170  barrels  of  silver  ore,  and  think  that  it  contains  gold;  they 
have  also  secured  many  horns  of  Unicorns,  weighing  together 
nearly  200  lb.  Master  Jorris,  aforesaid,  presents  himself  to  the 
King's  Majesty,  if  H.M.  will  accept  his  services  to  be  employed 
on  such  voyages:  likewise  he  offers  to  fetch  back  to  H.M.  the 
cannon  which  Jens  Munk  left  behind  him  in  America. — Actum  ut 
supra,  Mr.  Jorris  Caro/us,  m.  p. 

On  a  slip  of  paper,  pasted  on  to  the  document,  is  written: — 
"This  is  a  true  copy  of  the  words  which  Master  Jorris  requested 
me  to  write  down,  which  he  has  signed  with  his  own  hand,  desiring 
that  they  might  be  submitted  to  H.R.M.     In  witness  whereof,  I 
have  signed  with  my  own  hand,  Anno  1625." 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.         xlv 

to  Holland  to  engage  men  for  the  Danish  East  India 
Company  ;  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  execution 
of  this  task,  he  was  empowered  by  Royal  Warrant 
to  promise  any  of  the  King's  subjects  who  might 
have  fled  the  country  on  account  of  any  unlawful 
act,  free  pardon  and  safe  return,  if  they  agreed  to 
engage  themselves  for  this  service,  unless  they  had 
been  guilty  of  murder  or  similar  grave  crimes. 
How  far  he  succeeded,  we  are  not  told  ;  but,  in  the 
following  year  (1622),  after  having  returned  from 
Norway,  where  he  had  levied  sailors  for  the  Fleet,  he 
was  ordered  to  sea  with  a  man-of-war,  called  Nelde- 
bladety  as  convoy  for  the  East  Indiaman,  Water- 
hunden.  He  saw  this  vessel  safe  as  far  as  the 
Canary  Islands  ;  and,  on  the  return  journey,  he  fell 
in  with  a  Danish  squadron  conveying  the  King  to 
Norway.  His  Majesty  thereupon  ordered  Munk 
to  join  the  Fleet,  and  he  did  not  return  home  till  the 
month  of  August. 

The  year  1623  brought  Munk  serious  domestic 
trouble,  for  which,  perhaps,  he  was  indebted  to  his 
frequent  absence  from  home.  He  was  obliged  to 
divorce  his  wife,  which  entailed  considerable  legal 
business.  Very  likely  this  unfortunate  event  was 
the  reason  why  the  Manager  of  the  School  at  Soro 
was  now  ordered  at  once  to  take  in  the  two  sons 
of  Munk,  for  whom  places  had  been  reserved  in 
1619  ;  besides  which,  a  third  son  was  ordered  to  be 
received  as  soon  as  a  vacancy  should  occur.1     Munk's 

1  Sjcell.  7egn.,  xxii,  f.  223. 


xlvi        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

family  troubles  did  not,  however,  prevent  his  being 
actively  employed  by  the  King — in  fact,  there  is  on 
record  an  order  from  the  King  to  the  Municipal 
Authorities  of  Copenhagen,  to  hasten  the  legal 
proceedings  connected  with  the  divorce,  because 
the  King  wanted  Munk's  services  at  sea.1  He  was 
thereupon  sent  with  four  ships  to  the  coasts  of 
northern  Norway  and  Lapland,  in  order  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Russians,  who,  in 
various  ways,  had  interfered  with  Danish  shipping 
and  commerce.  In  this  matter,  he  seems  to  have 
proceeded  with  perhaps  too  great  vigour,  so  as  to 
call  forth  complaints  on  the  part  of  the  Russians, 
particularly  because  at  Kola  he  had  levied  a  large 
sum  as  security  for  the  claims  of  Danish  merchants. 
His  biographer  of  1723  says  that  he  cruised  in 
those  waters  from  May  1st  to  August  26th,  and 
returned  with  good  booty  for  the  King,  having 
done  no  harm  to  the  Lapps  (the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  which  had  become  subject  to  the  Russians), 
but  had  treated  them  with  all  kindness.  A  short 
diary  of  Munk's,  kept  on  this  voyage,  is  still  in 
existence.2 

In  1624,  Munk's  account  of  his  voyage  to  udH- 
son's  Bay,  entitled  Navigatio  Septentrionalis,  was 
published,  but  he  himself  was  continually  on  the 
move.     In  February  of  that  year,  he  was  despatched 


1  Sjcell.  Tegn,  xxii,  f.  369. 

2  See  the  notice  of  the  MS.  of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  in 
the  Commentary.     , 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.       xlvii 

to  Pomerania  and  the  neighbouring  countries,  to 
engage  ship's-carpenters ;  and  no  sooner  had  he 
returned  than  he  was  sent  out  again  to  Mecklen- 
burg, to  carry  a  large  sum  of  money  to  Duke 
Ulrich,  the  King's  brother  and  Bishop  of  Sleswick 
and  Schwerin,  an  errand  which  he  successfully  exe- 
cuted. Next,  in  the  month  of  May,  he  was  ordered 
with  three  ships  to  the  North  Sea,  on  the  same 
service  on  which  he  had  been  so  often  employed — 
that  of  looking  after  pirates  and  unlicensed  foreign 
vessels.  On  this  occasion,  he  was  instructed  not 
to  do  the  Russians  any  harm.  There  was  at 
that  time  very  great  need  of  this  kind  of  police- 
duty  ;  and  a  second  squadron  was  sent  out  to  act 
in  the  same  manner  along  the  southern  coasts 
of  Norway,  whilst  Munk  was  engaged  further 
north. 

In  February  1625,  Munk  received  an  addition 
of  100  Rixdollars  to  his  pay,  and  was  soon  again 
in  activity.  In  the  same  year,  warlike  opera- 
tions commenced.  Christian  IV,  besides  being 
King  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  was  also  a  German 
Prince,  in  his  capacity  of  Duke  of  Holstein,  and 
was  thus  drawn  into  the  Thirty  Years'  War  on  the 
side  of  the  Protestant  States.  Although  the  actual 
fighting  was  carried  on  by  land,  divisions  of  the 
Danish  fleet  were  employed  in  order  to  prevent 
the  Imperialists  from  obtaining  supplies  by  sea. 
Two  such  were  sent  out  in  the  autumn  of  1625  ; 
and  Jens  Munk  was  summoned  in  all  haste  to  equip 
six  ships  which   he  was  to  command  as  Admiral, 


xlviii       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

stationed  on  the  Weser.  In  his  letter  to  Munk,1  the 
Chancellor  requested  him  to  come  with  all  speed  to 
Roeskilde,  where  he  himself  was — probably  because 
the  plague  had  been  raging  and  was  still  prevalent 
in  Copenhagen.  With  regard  to  this,  he  writes  : — 
"  Concerning  the  sickness,  you  need,  next  God's 
help,  have  no  fear.  The  vessels  shall  be  manned 
mostly  with  fresh  and  healthy  crews."  This  letter 
was  dated  August  ioth  ;  and,  before  the  end  of 
September,  Munk  took  up  his  station.  His  own 
ship  was  Neldebladet,  which  he  had  commanded 
before ;  and,  amongst  the  others,  were  Trost,  of 
Greenland  memory,  and  Lamprenen,  in  which  he 
had  returned  from  Hudson's  Bay.  The  latter, 
however,  was  lost  with  all  hands,  but  under  what 
circumstances  is  not  known  :  thus  both  the  ships 
Munk  had  taken  out  in  1619  were  ultimately  lost 
while  under  his  command.  In  October,  Munk 
returned  to  Copenhagen  with  most  of  the  ships, 
whilst  some  of  them  wintered  on  the  Weser,  under 
command  of  Peter  Kieldsen,  the  same  who  had 
been  in  Greenland  under  Lindenow  in  1605. 

In  the  spring  of  1626,  Munk  resumed  his  com- 
mand on  the  Weser.  This  is  the  last  command 
of  his  mentioned  in  the  biography  of  1726 — no 
doubt  because  Munk's  journals,  on  which  that 
biography  is  based,  did  not,  as  the  author  expressly 
states,  extend  further.  It  is  known,  however,  from 
Slange's  work  and  other  sources  that,  in  1627,  Munk 

1  Sjcell.  Tegn.,  xxvii,  f.  91. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.        xlix 

was  again  on  the  Weser,  though  at  first  only  as 
second-in-command,  Henrik  Wind  being  Admiral  ; 
but,  later  in  the  year,  Wind  having  been  sent  to 
the  Elbe,  Munk  was  Admiral  himself. 

In  the  following  year  (1628),  Munk's  career  came 
to  an  end.  We  have  already  alluded  to  a  somewhat 
romantic  account  of  Munk's  death,  told  by  La  Peyrere. 
It  is  to  the  effect  that,  when  he  had  finished  his 
preparations  for  a  second  voyage  to^Hudson's  Bay 
and  was  on  the  point  of  departure,  the  King,  in  a 
conversation,  upbraided  him  with  the  deaths  among 
the  crews  on  the  first  voyage,  as  if  this  had  been  due 
to  Munk's  mismanagement  ;  and  that,  irritated  by 
Munk's  somewhat-spirited  rejoinder,  the  King  even 
went  so  far  as  to  push  him  in  the  stomach  with  the 
point  of  his  stick.  This  treatment  Munk,  it  is  stated, 
felt  so  keenly  that  he  took  to  his  bed  in  mortification 
and  starved  himself  to  death.1     La  Peyrere  does  not 


1  Le  Capitaine  Munck  rendit  compte  de  son  voyage  aii  Roy  son 
maistre,  qui  le  receut,  comme  Ton  recoit  vne  personne  que  Ton  a 
creu  perdue.  II  sembloit  que  ce  deust  estre  la  fin  des  mal-heurs 
de  ce  Capitaine ;  mais  son  auenture  est  bigearre,  et  merite  d'estre 
sceue.  II  demeura  quelques  annees  en  Danemarc ;  oil  apres 
auoir  long-temps  resue  sur  les  manquemes  qu'il  auoit  faits  dans 
son  voyage,  par  l'ignorance  des  lieux,  &  des  choses,  &  sur  la 
possibility  de  trouuer  le  passage  qu'il  chercheoit  pour  le  Levant ; 
l'enuie  le  prit  de  refaire  ce  mesme  voyage.  Et  ne  le  pouuant 
entreprendre  seul,  il  engagea  dans  ce  party,  des  Gentilshomes  de 
marque,  &  des  Bourgeois  qualifiez  de  Danemarc ;  qui  formerent 
vne  Compagnie  notable,  &  equipperent  deux  Vaisseaux,  pour  ce 
long  cours,  sous  la  conduite  de  ce  Capitaine.  II  auoit  pourueu 
a  tous  les  inconueniens  &  a  tous  les  disordres,  qui  luy  estoient 
suruenus  au  premier  voyage,  &  il  estoit  comme  sur  le  point  de 

d 


1  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

give  his  authority  for  this  story  ;  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  he  had  been  misled  somehow,  and 
that  his  account  of  Munk's  death  is  simply  one  of 
his  many  mistakes,  to  the  existence  and  probable 
causes  of  which  we  have  alluded  in  another  place.1 
Nevertheless,  owing  to  the  numerous  reproductions 
of  La  Peyrere's  book,  this  story  was  at  one  time  very 
generally  received,  even  in  Denmark,  where  a  trans- 
lation of  La  Peyrere's  book  appeared  in  1732,2  and 
where  his  account  of  Munk's  death  was  reproduced 
by  one  historian  of  note,  Ludvig  Holberg.3  The 
latter  certainly  gives  it  only  for  what  it  is  worth, 
but  he  ought  to  have  known  better  than  to  repeat 
it,  even  as  possibly  true.  Niels  Slange,  whose  work 
appeared  four  years  before  Holberg's,  mentions 
Munk's  death  in  the  following  words  :4 — "The  history 

s'embarquer  pour  le  second  lorsque  le  Roy  de  Danemarc  luy 
demanda  le  iour  de  son  depart;  et  de  discours  a  un  autre  luy 
reprocha  que  l'equipage  qu'il  luy  auoit  donne,  avoit  pery  par  sa 
mauuaise  conduite,  a  quoy  le  Capitaine  respondit  vn  peu 
brusquement ;  ce  qui  fascha  le  Roy,  &  Pobligea  de  le  pousser 
du  bout  de  son  baston  dans  l'estomac.  Le  Capitaine  outre  de 
cet  affront  se  retira  chez  luy,  &  se  mit  dedans  son  lict,  ou  il 
mourut  dix  iours  apres,  de  deplaisir  &  de  faim  {Relation  du  Groen- 
land,  p.  268-271). 

1  See  Book  I  {Danish  Expeditions  to  Greenland),  Introduction, 
p.  xxii. 

2  See  Bibliography,  p.  lx.  In  one  of  the  Dutch  reproductions 
(Drie  Voyagien  Gedaen  na  Groenlandt,  p.  10),  there  is  an  illustra- 
tion representing  the  interview  between  the  King,  who  is  seated, 
sceptre  in  hand,  and  Munk,  who  is  standing  before  him  in  full 
armour. 

3  Dannemarks  Riges  Historie  (1753),  vol.  ii,  p.  668. 

4  Slange,  Kong  Christian  den  Fjerdes  Historie  (1749),  P-  643. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  ll 

of  this  year  [1628]  must  now  be  concluded  with 
[mention  ofj  the  decease  of  the  brave  and  renowned 
navigator,  Captain  Jens  Munk,  which  took  place  on 
the  3rd  of  June,  a  few  days  after  having  shown  his 
bravery  on  the  Fleet  which  was  commanded  by 
Pros  Mund."  J.  H.  Schlegel,  in  his  abridgment 
of  Slange's  work,  speaking  of  La  Peyrere's  book, 
says1 : — "  First  of  all,  I  must  observe  that  what 
Peyrere  states,  on  mere  hearsay  and  without  indica- 
tion of  date,  concerning  Munk's  death  (which  is 
repeated  by  Holberg)  is  erroneous.  For  Munk  died 
in  the  midst  of  the  war  against  the  Emperor,  on 
the  3rd  of  June  1628,  a  few  days  after  having  shown 
his  bravery  in  a  naval  engagement — consequently, 
under  circumstances  in  which  he  cannot  possibly 
have  been  thinking  of  a  voyage  to  Greenland,  or 
have  died  from  vexation  at  the  King's  pretended 
ill-treatment  of  him.  The  address  to  the  King, 
which  forms  the  preface  to  his  account  of  the 
voyage,  shows  that  he  was  fully  certain  of  the 
King's  satisfaction."  In  speaking  of  Jens  Munk's 
death,  Schlegel  says2: — "After  having  performed 
the  voyage  to  Greenland,  Jens  Munk  was  employed 
every  year  in  the  service  of  the  King.  This  fact 
confirms  further  what  has  already  been  observed 
in  note  125  against  the  supposed  occasion  of  his 
death.      Holberg  had  scarcely   any  other  authority 

1  Geschichte  Konig  Christian  des   Vierten  (1771),   iii,    p.   126, 
note  125. 

2  Op.  tit.,  p.  231,  note  246. 

d   2 


Ill  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

for  this  than  Peyrere,  who  certainly,  as  an  in- 
quisitive traveller,  learnt  many  things  at  Copen- 
hagen, but  may  have  misunderstood,  or  imperfectly 
remembered,  much."  It  would  be  easy  to  accumu- 
late evidence  to  corroborate  this  criticism — the  fact 
that  the  preparations  for  a  second  voyage  took 
place  in  1621,  immediately  after  Munk's  return,  is, 
of  course,  decisive  ;  but  it  is  not  necessary,  for  no 
serious  writer  has  given  any  credit  to  the  story  since 
Schlegel's  time. 

In  1628,  a  large  Danish  fleet  operated  in  the 
Baltic  under  the  King's  own  command  ;  and  that 
Munk  at  that  time  was  considered  one  of  the  chief 
commanders  in  the  Danish  navy,  may,  perhaps,  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  a  certain  circular  order  to 
the  captains  has  been  entered  on  the  Register  of 
the  Chancery,  as  having  been  addressed  to  Munk, 
in  the  King's  own  handwriting,  with  the  addition 
that  copies  of  the  same  were  sent  to  all  the 
others.1 

There  seems,  however,  to  be  some  uncertainty 
as  regards  Munk's  commands  and  movements  in 
this,  the  last,  year  of  his  life.  He  is  known  to 
have  been  afloat,  early  in  the  year,  on  board  Den 
Flyvende  Fish  ( The  Flying-Fish)  ;  but  it  appears 
that,  in  the  month  of  April,  he  came  to  Copen- 
hagen on  board  Hummeren,  though  for  what  pur- 
pose is  not  known.  At  the  time  when  his  death 
occurred,  the  Fleet  was  off  Stralsund,  which  was  held 

1  Sjcell.  Reg.,  xviii,  f.  294. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.  liii 

by  the  citizens  and  a  Danish  force  against  the 
Imperial  army  under  Wallenstein;  and  the  engage- 
ment in  which  Munk,  according  to  Slange,  had 
distinguished  himself  (but  which  Slange  does  not 
specify)  may  have  been  one  which  took  place 
on  one  of  the  last  days  of  May.  Arnheim  (or 
Arnim),  the  commander  of  the  forces  before 
Stralsund,  having  learned  that  it  was  intended 
to  throw  reinforcements  into  the  fortress  by  sea, 
attempted  to  prevent  it  by  means  of  a  flotilla  of 
boats,  manned  by  soldiers,  but  the  Danish  Fleet 
frustrated  this  attempt  after  a  smart  engagement. 
If  Munk  was  with  the  Fleet  at  the  time,  he  was 
pretty  sure  to  be  employed  on  this  occasion, 
which  would  have  been  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
if  Slange's  date  for  that  event  is  correct.  But, 
although  the  author  of  the  biography  of  1723  gives 
the  same  date,  the  3rd  of  June  (Munk's  birthday), 
stating  that  Munk's  brother-in-law1  had  noted  that 
he  died  on  that  day,  it  appears  to  be  erroneous.  It 
has  been  observed2  that,  according  to  the  Treasury 
accounts,  his  salary  was  drawn  by  his  wife  down  to 
St.  John's  Day  [June  24th],  "when  he  died";  and, 
according  to  the  Parish  Register  of  St.  Nicholas, 
Copenhagen,    he    was    buried    in    that    church    on 


1  That  would  be  the  brother  of  Munk's  second  wife,  Margrethe 
Tagisdatter  (daughter  of  Tage  Eriksen,  a  Judge  in  Norway), 
who  survived  him.  It  appears  not  to  be  known  when  Munk 
married  her,  but  he  had  no  issue  by  her. 

2  See  H.  D.  Lind,  Kong  Christian  den  Fjerde,  etc.  (Copenhagen, 
1889),  p.  196. 


Hv  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

July  3rd,  1628.  Perhaps  the  various  statements 
may  be  reconciled  by  assuming  that  he  fell  ill  shortly 
after  distinguishing  himself  in  the  manner  indicated, 
and  that  he  died  on  June  23rd,  which,  by  a  clerical 
error,  may  have  been  corrupted  into  June  3rd, 
whereby  both  the  biographer  and  Slange  (who  per- 
haps followed  the  latter)  may  have  been  misled. 
Supposing  the  body  to  have  been  brought  back  to 
Copenhagen,  it  might  very  well  have  been  buried 
on  July  3rd.  There  is  no  record  of  any  monument 
to  his  memory  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas;  and, 
if  any  ever  existed,  it  would  have  disappeared  in 
1 795,  when  a  great  fire  destroyed  the  church,  with 
the  exception  of  the  huge  red-brick  tower,  which 
still  forms  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the  centre  of 
the  city.  Nor  is  any  portrait  of  Munk  known  to 
exist. 

Such  were  the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  Jens 
Munk.  They  show  him  to  have  been  a  man  of 
great  ability  in  various  directions,  courageous  and 
energetic,  of  great  experience  as  a  navigator,  and 
enjoying,  in  an  uncommon  degree,  the  confidence 
of  his  sovereign  and  the  esteem  of  his  fellow 
citizens. 


MUNK  S   EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  IV 

II. — Bibliography  of  Early  Accounts  of  Munk's 
Life  and  Voyage. 

Jens  Munk's  account  of  his  voyage  to  Hudson's 
Bay  in  1619-20 — the  only  original  one  that  we 
have — was  published  by  himself,  in  1624,  at  Copen- 
hagen, under  the  title  of  Navigatio  Septentrionalis} 
It  is  illustrated  by  a  map  showing  Greenland,  Davis 


1  The  full  title  is  as  follows  : — Navigatio,  Septentrionalis.  Det 
er :  Relation  Eller  Bescriffuelse,  om  Seiglads  oc  Reyse,  paa  denne 
Nordvestiske  Passagie,  som  nu  kaldis  Nova  Dania :  Igjennem 
Fretum  Christian  at  Opsone,  Huilcken  Reyse,  Voris  Allernaa- 
digste  Herre,  Konning  Christian  den  Fierde,  vdi  det  Aar 
1619.  Naadigst  Berammit,  Oc  til  des  Experientz  afferdiget 
haffuer  hans  Majest :  Skibs  Captein,  lens  Munck  oc  hans 
methaffuendis  Folck,  som  offuer  alt  vare  64.  Personer,  met 
tuende  hans  Majest :  Skibe,  Enhiorningen  oc  Iagten  Lamprenen  : 
Samme  Seiglads  effter  metgiffuen  Naadigst  Instruction,  vdi 
Vnderdanigst  gehorsomhed,  saa  meget  mueligt  vcere  kunde,  er 
Tenteret,  Men  Capteinen  effter  hoy  Perickel  vdstanden  niet  Iagten, 
er  icke  vden  selfftredie  Igien  til  Norge  hiemkommen,  Met  Bemelding 
om  alle  Circujnstantier,  Curs,  Kaase  oc  Tilfald,  det  Farevand  oc 
den  Reysis  Leilighed  anrorendis,  Aff  forskreffne,  lens  Munck  Paa 
Hen  oc  Hiemfarten  met  flid  Observeret,  Oc  paa  Hoybemelte  Kong  : 
Majest:  Naadigste  Behaug  vdi  Tryck  Publiceret.  Syr:  4.J. 
Navigantes  mare,  enarrant  ejus  pericula.  De  som  fcerdis  paa 
Haffuet,  de  sige  aff  den  Farlighed,  Oc  wi  som  det  hore,  forundre 
oss,  etc.  Prentet  i  Kidbenhaffn  hoss  Henrich  Waldkirch,  anno 
m.  dc.  xxiiii.  A  rendering  of  this  Title-page  is  prefixed  to  our 
translation  of  the  text  (see  p.  1).  The  volume  is  a  small  quarto, 
*l\  inches  by  6  inches,  and  unpaged;  the  collation  being  A  to 
Hiii,  including  title.  The  map  is  to  face  Cm  (where  a  hand 
refers  to  it),  the  two  woodcuts  (marked  with  a  star  and  a  cross 
respectively)  are  to  face,  the  first  Bun,  and  the  second  Cini,  in 
which  places  corresponding  marks  are  inserted  in  the  text. 


lvi  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

Strait,  Hudson's  Strait,  and  Hudson's  Bay  ;  also  by 
two  woodcuts,  on  which  various  events  are  repre- 
sented (according  to  the  custom  of  the  period)  side 
by  side,  without  divisions,  although  those  events 
happened  at  quite  different  times. 

This  original  edition  seems  now  to  be  very  rare. 
No  public  library  in  this  country  appears  to  possess 
a  copy  of  it. 

A  second  edition,  consisting  of  a  reprint  of  the 
original  volume,  with  the  addition  of  a  biography 
of  Munk,  was  published  in  1723.1  The  text,  which 
has  been  to  some  extent  modernized  in  point  of  spell- 
ing, is  marred  by  not  a  few  misprints  ;  and,  though 
there  is  a  copy  of  the  map,  the  woodcuts  have  not 
been  reproduced.  Nevertheless,  this  edition  is 
extremely  valuable  on  account  of  the  biography  of 


1  The  title-page  of  this  edition,  apart  from  slight  modification 
and  modernised  spelling,  is  identical  with  that  of  the  original 
edition,  down  to  the  words,  vdi  Tryck  Publiceret,  after  which 
follow  :  1624 — Og  nu  anden  gang  efter  manges  Forlangede  til 
Trykken  befordret,  og  med  forbemelte  Capitains  Liv  og  Levnets 
Beskrivelse,  extraheret  of  hans  egenhcendige  skrevne  Journaller, 
formeeret.  Kiobenhavn,  Trykt  udi  Kongl.  Majestets  priviligerede 
Bogtrykkerie,  1723.  {And  now  for  the  second  time,  at  the  request  of 
many,  published  in  print \  and  augmented  with  the  Description  of  the 
said  Captain's  Life  and  Fortunes,  extracted  fro7n  his  own  autograph 
Diaries.  Copenhagen  :  Printed  in  His  Royal  Majesty's  privileged 
Printi?ig-house,  1723.)  The  text  of  Scripture  is  removed  to  the 
back  of  the  title-page.  The  volume  is  a  small  pott  octavo, 
measuring  about  6|  inches  by  4  inches,  and  the  collation  is  as 
follows  : — Title-page,  pp.  1-2  ;  the  folding  map  ;  Preface,  in  form 
of  address  to  the  King,  pp.  3-7  ;  Munk's  Narrative,  pp.  8-72  ; 
Biography  of  Munk  (in  form  of  an  Appendix),  pp.  1-24. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  Ivil 

Munk,  which  is  stated  to  be  extracted  in  the  main 
from  his  own  journals,  a  circumstance  which  seems 
to  indicate  that  the  anonymous  editor  was  a  member 
or  friend  of  Munk's  family.  At  the  present  time, 
Munk's  papers  have  nearly  all  disappeared  ;  and, 
but  for  this  biography,  we  should  have  known  next 
to  nothing  about  his  early  life.  Even  with  regard 
to  the  events  of  later  years,  when  he  had  become 
a  well-known  personage  in  Denmark,  the  biography 
has  preserved  not  a  few  interesting  details  which 
are  not  known  from  other  sources.  Of  this  edition, 
the  British  Museum  possesses  a  copy  (Press-mark, 
C.  32,  by  25). 

A  third  edition,  consisting  of  an  accurate  reprint 
of  the  edition  of  1624,  with  an  introduction  and 
notes  by  Mr.  P.  Lauridsen,  was  published  at  Copen- 
hagen in  1883.1  The  original  map  and  the  second 
woodcut  are  reproduced  ;  a  map  of  Hudson's  Strait 
and  Bay,  according  to  our  present  knowledge,  is 
added  ;  and  there  is  also  a  photo-lithographed  fac- 
simile of  Munk's  handwriting.  This  edition  is 
chiefly  valuable  on  account  of  some  interesting 
additional  information  which  Mr.  Lauridsen  has 
been  enabled  to  produce  from  the  Danish  State- 
Archives. 

Munk's  autograph  manuscript  of  the  greater  part 
of  his  book  is  still  in  existence  ;  but  it  will  be  con- 
venient to  postpone  our  observations  on  it  until  we 

1  Jens  Munks  Navigaiio  Septentrionalis.  Med  Indledning, 
Noter  og  Kort.  Paa  ny  Udgiven  of  P.  Lauridsen.  Kjobenhavn, 
1883.     8vo,  lvi-58-[8]  pp. 


lviii       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

have  placed  before  our  readers  the  printed  text, 
with  which  it  will  have  to  be  compared.  It  will  be 
found  described  and  discussed  in  our  Commentary. 

The  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  has  never  till  now 
been  translated  into  any  other  language,  and  its 
contents  have  become  generally  known  only  at 
second  hand,  through  the  same  publication  by  means 
of  which  the  contents  of  Lyschander's  Gronlandske 
Chronica  reached  the  world  at  large,  viz.,  Isaac 
de  La  Peyrere's  Relation  du  Groenland.  We  have 
already  mentioned  this  book  in  connection  with 
the  Danish  Expeditions  to  Greenland  in  1605-7,1 
reserving  a  fuller  notice  for  this  place,  as  it  is 
principally  of  importance  with  regard  to  Munk's 
voyage  to  Hudson's  Bay,  which  La  Peyrere  in- 
cluded in  his  account  of  Greenland,  because  the 
latter  name  at  that  time  was  not  unfrequently 
applied  to  all  the  lands  north  of  Hudson's  Strait. 

As  already  stated,  the  author  obtained  the 
materials  for  his  book  during  a  stay  in  Denmark  in 
1644  and  1645,  when  he  was  one  of  the  suite  of  the 
French  Ambassador,  M.  de  la  Thuillerie.  This 
circumstance  procured  him  excellent  introductions, 
and  one  of  his  principal  informants  was  the  learned 
Wormius,  with  whom  he  corresponded  for  several 
years.  Nevertheless,  the  Relation  du  Groenland  is 
disfigured  by  numerous  inaccuracies,  caused  partly, 
no  doubt,  by  the  author's  ignorance  of  the  Danish 
language,  but    probably  also   in  some  measure    by 

1  Book  I  (Expeditions  to  Greenland),  p.  xxii. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  llX 

the  evident  fact  that  he  wrote  chiefly  with  the 
intention  of  producing  an  entertaining  book.  Some 
of  his  ill-founded  statements  have  led  to  serious 
mistakes  concerning  Munk  and  his  voyage,  which 
have  obtained  very  general  acceptance  on  account 
of  the  wide  circulation  of  La  Peyrere's  book.  It 
will,  therefore,  be  proper  here  to  notice  the  different 
editions,  reprints,  and  translations  of  it,  as  far  as  we 
are  acquainted  with  them. 

The  original  edition  of  the  Relation  du  Groenland 
was  published  in  Paris  in  1647.1  The  author's 
name  does  not  appear  anywhere  in  it  ;  but,  as  he 
implies,  in  the  very  first  lines,  that  he  is  the  author  of 
the  Relation  de  rislande,  in  which  La  Peyrere 
names  himself,  the  book  is  only  anonymous  in  form. 
It  is  illustrated  by  a  map  of  the  North  Atlantic 
and  Hudson's  Bay,  mainly  founded  on  that  of  Munk, 
and  by  a  folding  plate,  containing  drawings  of 
Greenlanders,  with  their  boats,  etc.,  and  of  a  skull 
of  the  Narwhal,  showing  the  true  nature  of  its 
"  horn".  These  latter  he  obtained  from  Wormius, 
who  had  destined  them  for  his  Musetim  Wormianum, 
in  which  work  (Leyden  and  Amsterdam,  1655)  they 
were  afterwards   inserted. 

The  Relation  du  Groenland  was  re-issued  in  1663,2 

1  Relation  dv  Groenland.  A  Paris :  Chez  Avgvstin  Covrbe,  dans 
la  petite  Salle  du  Palais,  a  la  Palme,  m.dc.lvii.  Auec  Priuilege 
du  Roy.  8°.  Eight  preliminary  leaves,  including  Title ;  Text, 
pp.  1-278;  the  Privilege -{4  pp.]  ;  a  folding  map  to  face  p.  1,  and 
a  folding  plate  with  figures,  to  face  p.  144. 

2  Only  the  Title-page  is  reprint.  In  some  copies,  the  imprint 
runs  ;  Chez  Thomas  Jollv,  dans  la  petite  Salle  des  Merciers,  au 


lx  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

and  was  reprinted  in  1 7 1 5,  with  reproductions  of  the 
map  and  other  illustrations,  in  the  first  volume  of 
J.  F.  Bernard's  Recueil  de  Voiages  an  Nord,1  of 
which  there  exists  at  least  one  later  edition. 

A  Danish  version  of  Bernard's  Recueil  was  com- 
menced in  1732,2  but  was  not  continued  beyond 
the  first  volume,  containing  La  Peyrere's  treatises  on 
Iceland  and  Greenland,  and  this  is  the  only  Danish 
translation  of  them.  The  maps  and  illustrations 
were  not  reproduced. 


Palais,  a  la  Palme,  et  aux  Amies  de  Hollande.  mdclxiii.  In 
others  :  Chez  Louis  Billaine,  au  second pillier  de  la  grand  Salle  du 
Palais,  a  la  Palme,  6°  au  grand  Cesar,  etc.  That  the  two  book- 
sellers were  partners  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  the  necessary 
permission  for  the  issue  of  the  book  was  granted  to  them  jointly. 

1  Recueil  de  Voiages  au  Nord,  contenant  divers  memoires  Ires 
utiles  au  co?nmerce  et  a  la  Navigation.  A  Amsterdam :  Chez  Jean 
Frederic  Bernard,  sur  le  Rockin,  pres  de  la  Bourse,  mdccxv.  i  20, 
vols.  i-v.  There  is  an  enlarged  edition  in  10  vols.,  of  which  vol.  i 
was  published  in  173 1.  La  Peyrere's  treatise  occupies  pp.  85-187 
in  the  first  edition,  and  has  a  separate  title-page  :  Relation  du 
Groenland.  Contenant  V Histoire  des  Voyages  des  Danois  pour  la 
decouverte  de  cette  Terre.  A  Amsterdam  :  Chez  Jean  Frederic 
Bernard,  sur  le  Rockin,  pres  de  la  Bourse,  mdccxv.  In  the 
ed.  of  1 7  31  there  is  no  separate  title-page  to  La  Peyrere's  treatise, 
which  occupies  pp.  61-186. 

2  Et  samlet  Ud tog  Pa  a  de  Reyser,  Som  Norden  paa  Ere  foretagne, 
Udi  hvilket  i?tdeholdes  adskillige  Beretninger,  Som  ere  Til  synderlig 
Nytte  og  Underretning  baade  for  Handelen  og  Seyladsen.  Udi 
det  Franske  Sprog  forst  forfattet.  Siden  udi  det  Danske  Sprog 
oversat,  og  7ned  adskillige  Historiske,  Geographiske,  og  andre 
Anmarkninger  saa  og  Registre former  et.  For ste  Part.  Kiobenhavn, 
trykt  udi  Hans  Kongl  Majests  privil.  Bogtrykkerie,  1J32.  8". 
La  Peyrere's  treatise  on  Greenland  occupies  pp.  117-299.  The 
special  Title-page  is  translated,  but  without  imprint. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.  lxi 

The  earliest  German  translation  appeared,  in 
1650,  in  the  collection  of  Hulsius,  of  which  it 
forms  the  twenty-sixth  and  last  part.1  It  is 
somewhat  abbreviated,  all  personal  references, 
La  Peyrere's  notes  on  Spitzbergen,  etc.,  being  left 
out.  On  the  other  hand,  a  long  notice  of  Hudson, 
borrowed  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.,  is  inserted  as  an 
introduction  to  the  account  of  Munk's  voyage,  which 
has  a  special  heading  describing  it  as  the  chief  item 
of  the  volume.  The  map  is  reproduced,  some  of  the 
names  being  translated  into  German,  the  others  into 
Latin.  Some  of  the  other  illustrations  are  likewise 
reproduced,  but  the  small  drawings  of  a  Narwhal's 
skull  are  replaced  by  others  on  a  very  large  scale, 
occupying  three  plates.  Besides  the  translation  of 
La  Peyrere's  book,  the  volume  contains  a  description 
of  Spitzbergen,  embodying  some  of  La  Peyrere's 
remarks,  and  a  discourse  on  the  Whale  Fishery. 


1  Die  xxvi.  Schiff-Fahrt,  Beschreibu?ig  einer  Hochst  milhseligen 
vnd  gantz  gefdhrlichen  Reyse,  durch  den  See-verstdndigen  Capitaih, 
Herrn  Johami  Mi'mcken,  inn  Jahren  i6ig,  vnd  1620.  verrichtet. 
Nach  demer  von  Weyl  and  dem  Durchleuchtigsten  Fiirsten  und 
Herrn,  Herrn  Christiano  IV.  Konigin  Dennemarck,  Norwegen,  etc., 
befelcht  worden,  mit  zweyen  Schiffen  nach  dem  Freto  oder  der  Enge 
Hudsons  zu  segeln,  umb  zu  versuchen,  ob  nicht  deren  Gegend  eine 
Enge,  so  Groenland  von  America  absc/ieide,  vnd  also  eine  Durch- 
fahrt  nach  Ost-Indien  zu  finden :  Sampt  vorhergehe?ider  gar 
deutlichen  Erlduterung  dess  Alien  und  Newen  Gronlands,  zu 
gegenwdrtiger  Schiff-Fahrts-Beschreibung  inso?iderheit  dienlich. 
Franckfurt  am  Mayn,  Bey  Christophoro  Le  Blon.  mdcl.  40. 
Four  preliminary  leaves,  including  Title,  and  pp.  1-63,  with  a  map 
and  ten  plates,  of  which  four  belong  to  the  discourse  on  the 
Whale  Fishery.      The  translation  from  La  Peyrere  ends  on  p.  45. 


lxil         DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

This  German  version  was  translated  into  Dutch, 
more  or  less  abbreviated,  and  printed  in  Amster- 
dam under  the  title  of  Drie  Voyagien  Gedaen  na 
Groenlandt,  etc.1  In  this  publication  (of  which  the 
date  is  uncertain),  the  contents  are  re-arranged  in 
a  peculiar  manner.  It  opens  with  the  account  of 
Munk's  voyage,  under  the  heading  of  Journal  van 
loan  Monnick  (pp.  3-1 1,  corresponding  to  pp.  36-45 
in  Hulsius)  ;  next  follows  the  discourse  on  the 
Whale  Fishery  (pp.  11-15,  corresponding  to  pp.  55-60 
in  Hulsius)  ;  after  this  comes  Voyagie  na  Groen- 
landt door  Marten  Forbisser  (pp.  15-18  ;  in  Hulsius, 

1  Drie  Voyagien  Gedaen  na  Groenlandt,  O/n  te  ondersoecken  of 
men  door  de  Naeuwte  Hudsons  sonde  konnen  Seylen ;  om  a/soo, 
een  Doorvaert  na  Oost-Indien  te  vinden.  Alle  ten  versoecke  van 
Christianus  de  IIII.  Koningh  van  Denemarcken,  etc.  de  eerste  door 
loan  Monnick,  de  tweede  door  Marten  Forbisser,  ende  de  derde 
door  Gotske  Lindenau.  Als  mede  een  Beschryvinghe,  Hoe,  e?i  op 
wat  wijse  me?i  de  Walvisschen  vanght.  Item,  een  korte  Beschryvingh 
van  Groenlandt,  met  de  manieren  en  hoedanicheden  der  Imvoonderen 
aldaer.  f  Amsterdam,  Gedruckt  By  Gillis  Joosten  Saeghman,  in  de 
Nieuwe-straet,  Ordinaris  Drucker  van  de  Joumalen  der  Zee-en 
Landt-Reyssen.  40  Title  and  pp.  3-32.  It  is  one  of  a  series  of 
similar  accounts  of  voyages,  all  of  which  are  printed  with  separate 
titles,  signatures,  and  pagination,  but  without  indication  of  the 
year  of  publication.  They  have  been  issued  also  collectively, 
with  an  engraved  Title-page,  under  the  title  of  Verscheyde 
Joumalen,  van  Zee  en  Landt  Reysen,  Mitsgaders  de  Beschrijvingh 
van  de  La?iden  en  Volckeren,  die  gelegen  syn  onder  den  kouden 
Noordt-Pool.  T  Amsterdam,  Gedruckt  by  Gillis  Joosten  Saeghman. 
The  series  is  the  sequel  of  a  similar  one,  entitled,  Verscheyde  Oost- 
Indische  Voyagien:  MetdeBeschryvingenvanlndien.  f  Eerste  Dee  I 
f  Amsterdam  by  Gillis  Joosten  Saeghman.  The  first  part  of  this 
series  bears  the  date  1663,  which  appears  to  be  the  only  date  of 
publication  given  anywhere  in  the  Collections. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  1X111 

pp.  24-26) ;  next  follows  the  account  of  the  ex- 
peditions in  1605-6-7,  under  the  title  of  Journael 
van  den  Admirael  Gotske  Lindenau,  etc.  (pp. 
18-24;  in  Hulsius,  pp.  26-35);  finally,  there  is  a 
Beschryvingh  van  Groenlandt,  containing  an  ac- 
count of  the  country  and  its  ancient  history,  as 
well  as  of  the  voyages  undertaken  in  search  of 
it  down  to  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
(pp.  25-32  ;  abbreviated  from  Hulsius,  pp.  6-21). 
The  volume  is  handsomely  illustrated,  but  neither 
the  map  nor  the  drawings  of  the  original  are  re- 
produced. 

A  complete  German  version,  by  H.  Sivers,  was 
published  at  Hamburg  in  1674,  entitled,  Berickt 
von  Grohnland  gezogen  ans  zwei  Chroniken,  etc.,1 
in  which  the  contents  are  left  in  their  proper  order, 
but  divided  into  two  books  of  fourteen  and  twelve 
chapters  respectively,  with  appropriate  headings. 
The  first  book  treats  of  the  ancient  history  of 
Greenland,  corresponding  to  the  first  1 1 7  pages  of 
La  Peyrere's  work  :  the  second  comprises  the 
remainder.       The  map  and   other   illustrations   are 

1  Bericht  von  Grohnland,  gezogen  aus  zwei  Chroniken :  Einer 
alten  Ihslandischen,  und  einer  neuen  Danischen  ;  iibergesand  in 
Frantzosischer  Sprahche  An  Herren  von  der  Mote  den  Wayer  vo7i 
einem  unbenandten  Meister,  und  gedruekt.  zu  Parihs  bey  Augustin 
Kiirbe  ins  Anno  1647.  Jetzo  aber  Deutsch  gegdben,  und, 
um  desto  fdrtiger  ihn  zu  gebrauchen,  untershihdlich  eingeteihlet 
Von  Henrich  Sivers.  Hamburg,  in  Verldgung  Johan  Naumans 
und  Jurgen  Wolfs.  Gedruekt  im  Jahr  Christi.  40.  Four  pre- 
liminary leaves,  including  Title  and  pp.  1-70,  with  map  and 
illustrations. 


lxiV        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

copied,  the  names  on  the  former  being  turned  into 
Latin. 

Like  the  first  German  version  of  1650,  that  of 
1674  was  also  translated  into  Dutch  and  printed  in 
1678,  augmented  with  historical  and  other  notes 
to  the  various  Chapters,  and  several  independent 
pieces,  referring  to  Nova  Zembla  and  Spitzbergen. 
The  title  is  Nauwkeitrige  Beschrijvingh  van  Groen- 
land, etc.1    The  map  and  one  of  the  original  illustra- 


1  Nauwkeurige  Beschrijvingh  van  Groenland  Aen  Heer  De  la 
Mothe  le  Vayer  ;  Verdeelt  in  twee  Boecken,  fEerste  van't  Oud  (nu 
verloorne)  Groenlandt,  Gelegentheyd ;  Vindinghswijs ;  Besettingh 
met  I?iwoo?iers ;  Beschrijvingh  ;  Vrughtbaerheyd ;  Gewassen,  Dieren, 
Zeeivonderen,  etc.  'tTiueede  van  V  Nieuiu  {door  V  soecken  van  V  Oud 
gevondene)  Groenland,  Beschrijvingh ;  eygenschap  der  Wilde,  en 
veel  andere  seer  aemnercklijke  saken.  Nevens  V  kort  begrijp  der 
seldsaeme  Reysen,  gedae?i  om  Oud- Groenland  weer  te  vinden  door 
M.  Forbeisser  uyt  E?igella?id,  in  V  jaer  1577.  Door  Gotzke  Lin- 
denauw  uyt  Deenemarcken,  in  de  Jaeren  1605.  en  1606.  Door 
Karsten  Richards,  in^t  Jaer  1601.  Door  V  Groenlandsch  Geselshap 
te  Koppenhagen,  in!t  Jaer  1636.  Met  aenhangingh  van't  Dagh-ver- 
hael  der  wonderlijcke  Bejegeningen  des  Deenschen  Hoofdmans  Joha?i 
Munch,,  in  V  soecken  van  een  wegh  tusschen  Groenland  en  America 
na  Oost-Indien :  Gelijck  oock  van  den  korten  Inhoud  en  seld- 
saeme gevallen  der  Hollandsche  en  Zeeuwsche  Scheeps-uytrustingh 
nae  Nova  Zembla,  gedaen  ten  selven  eynde :  Der  ontmoetingen  van 
seven  persoonen)  noch  seven,  en  noch  andere  seven  gebleven  op 
Spitzbergen,  om  aldaer  £ overwi?itere?i,  e.s.v.  Vertaeld,  e?i  met 
veelerley  Historische  Byvoeghselen  doorgaens  vergroot,  door  S.  de  V. 
f  Amsterdam,  by  Jan  Claesz.  ten  Hoom,  Boeckverkooper  tegen  over 
fOude  Heeren  Logement.  1678.  40.  Four  preliminary  leaves,  in- 
cluding engraved  Title  and  pp.  1-128,  of  which  the  translation  of 
La  Peyrere's  book  occupies  1-103  (in  part);  there  is  a  copy  of  the 
map,  and  the  original  drawing  of  the  Greenlanders  is  incorporated 
with  the  engraved  Title-page,  where  they  appear  in  the  midst  of  a 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON^  BAY.  lxV 

tions  are  reproduced,  the  former  with  names  mostly 
in  Dutch,  but  a  few  in  Latin.  The  headings  of  the 
chapters  are,  in  some  cases,  slightly  altered ;  and  the 
tenth  chapter  of  the  second  book  of  Siver's  trans- 
lation is  divided  into  two,  the  description  of  Spitz- 
bergen  forming  a  separate  chapter  numbered  eleven. 
The  accounts  of  Munk's  voyage  to  Hudson's  Bay 
and  of  his  intended  second  voyage  and  death 
follow,  as  in  Siver's  edition,  where  they  are  num- 
bered as  Chapters  xi  and  xn  ;  but,  in  the  Dutch 
edition,  they  are  not  numbered  at  all. 

In  the  following  year  (1679),  the  whole  of  this 
volume  was  translated  into  German,  and  printed  at 
Niirnberg,  with  the  title  of  Attsfiihrliche  Beschrei- 
bung  des  theils  bewohnt-  theils  unbewohnt-soge- 
nannten     Gronlands,     etc.,1     which     is     the     third 


splendid  forest ;  but  the  other  figures  are  not  reproduced. 
There  is,  however,  a  folding  plate  to  illustrate  the  papers  referring 
to  Spitzbergen. 

1  Ausfilhrliche  Beschreibung  des  theils  bewohnt-  theils  un- 
beiuohnt-sogenannten  Gronlands,  in  zwey  Theile  abgetheilt : 
Deren  erster  handelt  von  des  Alt-  {nunmhero  verlohmen),  Gron- 
lands Gelegenheit,  Erfijtdung,  Inwohnern,  Fruchtbarkeit,  Gewach- 
sen  Thieren  und  Meerwundem.  Der  andere :  von  dem  Neuen 
(durch  Suchung  des  alten,  gefundenen)  Gronland,  Eigenschafft 
der  IVilden,  und  viel  anderen  nierckiviirdigen  Dingen  mehr. 
Nebenst  Einem  Kurzem  Begriff  der  sells  a  men  Jdeisen,  so  M.  For- 
beisser,  Gotzke,  Lindenau,  Christian  Richard  und  die  Koppenhagen- 
Gronldndische  Gesellschafft,  alt  Gronland  wieder  zu  finden,  in 
unterschiedlichen  Jahren  gethan.  Mil  Anfiigung  des  Tagbuchs 
eines  die  Durchfahrt  zwischen  Gronland  und  America  suchendejt 
Ddnischen  Schiffes :  wie  audi  des  kurtzen  Inhalts  und  seltsamen 
Zufdlle  der  Holl-  und  Seeldndischen  Schiffsausrustung  nach 
Nova  Zembla  zu  eben  dem  Ende  vorgenommen :  Sa/ut  Erzehlung 

e 


1XV1        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

German  translation  of  the  Relation  du  Groenland. 
On  the  map,  however,  the  Dutch  names  are 
retained. 

The  first  English  translation  of  La  Peyrere's 
Relation  was  published  by  Churchill  in  1 704,1  under 
the  title  of  An  Account  of  Greenland.  It  is  accom- 
panied by  a  slightly-reduced  copy  of  the  map,  and 
by  copies  of  the  other  original  illustrations,  arranged 
together  on  one  plate,  so  as  to  suit  the  shape 
of  the  volume.  The  names  on  the  map  are  in 
English. 

A  very  full  abstract,  which  may  be  described  as 
an  abbreviated  translation  (not,  however,  including 
Munk's  voyage),  forms  part  of  the  Introduction  to 
an  English  translation  of  Hans  Egede's  work  on 
Greenland,  of  which  the  second  edition  appeared 
in  1818.2 

A  complete  translation  of  La  Peyrere's  text 
was  published,    in    1850,  by   the   Hakluyt    Society, 


der  wunderbaren  Zufdlle,  so  dreymal  Sieben  jPersonen,  welche  den 
Winter  iiber  auf  den  Spitsbergen  nnd  der  Mauritiusbay  sich 
anfgehalten,  begegnet,  und  wie  elendiglich  sie  umkommen  sind. 
Beschrieben,  und  mit  verschiedene?i  Historoschen  Anhangen  durch- 
gehends  erkldrt  und  erweitert  durch  S.  von  V.  Niimberg,  in 
Verlegung  Christof  Riegels,  1679.  Engraved  Title,  three  pre- 
liminary leaves  (including  Title)  and  131  pages;  Map  and  one 
plate. 

1  Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels,  vol.  ii  (1704),  pp.  447-478. 
There  are  several  later  editions  of  this  work. 

2  A  Description  of  Greenland,  by  Hans  Egede  .  .  .  A  New 
Edition,  with  a  Historical  Introduction  and  a  Life  of  the  Author.  .  . 
Second  Edition,  London,  1818,  8°. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay. 


xvn 


accompanied  by  a  copy  of  the  map  as  it  is  in  the 
original.1 

In  conclusion,  we  may  mention  that  the  above- 
mentioned  biography  of  Munk  which  appeared  as 
an  appendix  to  the  second  edition  of  the  Navigatio 
Septentrionalis,  in  1723,  was  reprinted  in  1753  by 
C.  P.  Rothe2 ;  and  that,  augmented  with  some 
details  drawn  from  other  sources,  it  also  forms  the 
substance  of  R.  Nyerup's  biography  of  Munk,3  as 
well  as  of  all  subsequent  ones.4 


1  In  A  Collection  of  Documents  on  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland. 
Edited  by  Adam  White  (London,  1850,  8°),  pp.  175-249.  The 
Title-page  of  the  re-issue  of  1663  is  reprinted,  and  the  first 
paragraph  of  the  text  is  detached  from  the  body  of  the  latter, 
and  printed  in  the  shape  of  a  preface.  The  map  is  reproduced, 
but  not  the  other  illustrations. 

2  Brave  Danske  Mcends  ....  Eftermcele,  by  C.  P.  Rothe 
(Copenhagen,  1753,  8°),  vol.  ii,  pp.  525-554. 

3  Archiv  for  Historie  of  Geographi.  Edited  by  J.  C.  Riise 
(Copenhagen,  182 1),  vol.  ii,  pp.  1-3 1. 

4  All  the  above-mentioned  editions,  translations,  and  abstracts 
of  La  Peyrere's  Relation  du  Groenland  helped  to  spread  through- 
out the  world,  and  to  perpetuate,  the  many  erroneous  statements 
concerning  Munk's  voyage  which  are  found  in  the  original  work. 
In  Denmark,  of  course,  these  errors  never  obtained  much  cur- 
rency ;  but,  even  there,  they  were  clearly,  to  some  extent,  received 
as  true.  Elsewhere,  however,  La  Peyrere's  account  of  Munk's 
expedition  was  almost  implicitly  accepted.  So  far  as  England  is 
concerned,  no  detailed  account  of  Munk's  voyage  has  until  now 
been  published,  except  the  translations  of  La  Peyrere's  work  which 
appeared  in  Churchill's  Collection  (1704)  and  in  the  series  of  the 
Hakluyt  Society  (1850),  which,  of  course,  contain  all  the  misstate- 
ments of  La  Peyrere's  original  work.  There  are,  however,  two  other 
fairly-old  and  very  well-known  English  works  on  Arctic  Explora- 
tion in  which  a   brief  account  of  Munk's  voyage  appears ;  and 

e  2 


Ixviii      DANISH  AkCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 


III. — Notice  of  Voyages  in  Search  of  a  North- West 
Passage  preceding  that  of  Munk. 

The  remarkable  series  of  voyages  in  search  of  a 
North-West  Passage  to  Cathay,  performed  between 
the  years  1576  and  1632,  constitutes  an  exceedingly 
interesting  and  well  defined  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Arctic  discovery.      The  series  commenced  with  the 


these  may  be  most  conveniently  noticed  here,  though  I  admit 
that  they  do  not  really  come  under  the  head  of  this  section.  The 
first  of  these  works  is  A  History  of  the  Voyages  and  Discoveries 
made  in  the  North,  translated  from  the  German  [Frankfurt-an-der- 
Oder,  1784,  8°]  of  John  Reinhold  Forster  (London,  dy.  4,  1786), 
in  which  the  account  of  Munk  and  his  voyage  occupies  pages 
470-471.  Forster's  account,  though  obviously  condensed  in  the 
main  from  that  of  La  Peyrere,  is  certainly  not  wholly  so ;  for, 
instead  of  inserting  La  Peyrere's  fantastic  accounts  of  Munk's 
death,  Forster  states  that  Munk  was  afterwards  employed  by 
King  Christian  IV  in  1624,  1625,  and  1627,  and  that  he  died  on 
June  3rd,  1628 — information  which  La  Peyrere  does  not  give, 
and  which  (if  not  derived  direct  from  the  1723  edition  of  Munk's 
Navigatio)  was  perhaps  drawn  from  SchlegePs  or  some  other 
similar  work.  Moreover,  Forster  correctly  identifies  the  harbour 
in  which  Munk  wintered  with  Port  Churchill,  though  many  other 
English  writers  have  identified  it  with  Chesterfield  Inlet.  Probably 
Forster's  account  of  Munk  and  his  voyage,  though  very  brief, 
is,  as  far  as  it  goes,  the  most  correct  and  reliable  that  has 
ever,  until  the  present,  appeared  outside  Denmark.  The 
second  of  the  two  works  to  be  noticed  here  is  Sir  John  Barrow's 
Chronological  History  of  Voyages  into  the  Arctic  Regions  (London, 
dy.  8°,  1818),  in  which  is  an  account  (pp.  230-234)  of  Munk's 
voyage,  which  is  obviously  derived  from  that  of  La  Peyrere  (pro- 
bably through  the  translation  in  Churchill's  Collection),  but  is 
rendered  still  more  unreliable  through  some  further  misstatements 
made  by  Barrow  himself. — M.  C. 


MUNR  S   EXPEDITION   TO  HUDSON  S   PAY. 


XIX 


first  voyage  of  Sir  Martin  Frobisher  in  the  first- 
named  year,  and  closed  with  that  of  Captain 
Thomas  James,  who  returned  in  the  last-named 
year,  after  which  the  search  for  a  passage  com- 
pletely ceased  for  more  than  a  century.  During 
this  period  of  a  little  more  than  half-a-century,  not 
less  than  seventeen  North-West  voyages  were 
accomplished,  all  so  far  connected  that  they  had 
the  same  object,  each  one  of  them  being  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  extent  undertaken  in  order  to 
follow  up  the  results  gained  on  those  which  had 
preceded  it.  The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the 
seventeen  voyages,  as  the  accounts  of  them  have 
appeared  in  the  volumes  of  the  Hakluyt  Society. 

Voyages  of  the  Early  Series  in  Search  of  a  North-  West  Passage. 


*& 

Year  or 

Year  of 

No. 

°l 

Years. 

Commander. 

Narrative  edited  by 

Publi- 

of 

►7  ° 

cation. 

Volum<:. 

I. 

1576      - 

Sir  Martin  Frobisher   - 

Admiral  Collinson1 

1867 

38 

2. 

1577      " 

11              >» 

1 

5  ?                                 5  > 

1867 

38 

3- 

1578      - 

>  1              j  » 

J>                                 1  > 

1867 

38 

4- 

1585      - 

Capt.  John  Davis 

Admiral  A.  H.  Markham 

1880 

59 

5- 

1586      - 

5  »                              >5 

,,               ,, 

1880 

59 

6. 

1587      - 

i  »                              1  1 

,,               ,, 

1880 

59 

7- 

1602      - 

Capt.  Geo.  Weymouth 

Thos.  Rundall1    - 

1849 

5 

8. 

1606      - 

Capt.  John  Knight 

Clements  R.  Markham 

1877 

56 

9- 

1610-II 

Capt.  Henry  Hudson  - 

Prof.  G.  M.  Asher 

i860 

27 

IO. 

1612-13 

Adm.  Sir  Thos.  Button 

Miller  Christy1     - 

1894 

88 

ii. 

1614      - 

Capt.  Gibbons     - 

5  » 

1894 

88 

12. 

1615      - 

Capt.  Bylot  andW.  Baffin 

Clements  R.  Markham 

l88l 

63 

13- 

1616      - 

,,                      ,,     - 

5  1                                      )> 

l88l 

63 

14. 

1619-20 

Capt.  Jens  Munk 

Gosch  and  Christy 

1896 

97 

15- 

1625      - 

Capt.  Wm.  Hawk  ridge 

Miller  Christy1    - 

1894 

88 

16. 

1 63 1      - 

Capt.  Luke  Foxe 

Miller  Christy      - 

1894 

88-89 

17. 

1631-32 

Capt.  Thos.  James 

" 

1894 

88-89 

The    voyage    of    Captain    Jens    Munk,    in    1619 
(which,  as  will  be  observed,  forms  the  last  but  three 


1  Only  partially 


Ixx  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

of  the  series),  differs,  in  one  respect,  from  all  the 
others,  in  that  it  is  the  only  one  which  was  not 
despatched  from  England  and  commanded  by  an 
Englishman.  Jens  Munk  was,  as  already  stated, 
a  Dane,  and  to  Denmark  belono-s  the  whole  honour 
of  the  enterprise.  Munk's  account  of  his  voyage  did 
not  become  known  in  England  in  time  to  be  of  use 
to  those  who  followed  him  in  the  search  ;  but  his  own 
voyage  was  undertaken  with  some  knowledge  of  what 
had  been  achieved  by  the  earlier  English  explorers. 
In  order  to  enable  our  readers  to  form  an  accurate 
estimate  of  the  relation  of  Munk's  voyage  to  the 
other  voyages  of  the  series,  it  is  necessary  to  turn 
back  and  to  pass  briefly  in  review  those  which 
preceded  it.  The  earlier  voyages  which  have  a 
direct  bearing  upon  Munk's  expeditions  are  not 
numerous  ;  and  the  proceedings  of  those  navigators 
who  did  not  (as  did  Munk)  seek  a  passage  by  way 
of  Hudson's  Strait  may  be  noticed  in  a  few  words. 

It  is  customary  to  ascribe  to  Captain  Henry 
Hudson  the  credit  of  having  been  the  first  to 
discover,  in  1610-11,  the  important  waterways  now 
known  as  Hudson's  Strait  and  Hudson's  Bay.  Nor 
is  this  done  without  some  reason  ;  for  (as  has  been 
shown  elsewhere1)  Hudson  was,  practically  speaking, 
the  real  discoverer  of  them.  Still,  the  fact  remains 
that  the  entrance  of  the  Strait  was  probably  known 
centuries    before    the    date    at    which    Hudson     is 

1    Voyages  of  Fox  e  and  fames  (Hakluyt  Society,  1894),  p.  vi. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.       lxxi 

commonly  supposed  to  have  discovered  it  ;  while  a 
portion,  at  least,  of  it  had  been  explored  and  mapped, 
and  the  existence  of  the  Bay  had  been  indicated 
upon  charts,  at  least  half-a-century  before  that  date. 

Although  there  is  no  actual  proof  that  the 
entrance  to  the  very  remarkable  inlet  which  we  now 
call  Hudson's  Strait  was  known  to  the  Northmen 
in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  still  there 
is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  it  was  ;  for, 
as  is  well  known,  they  had,  from  their  colonies  in 
south-western  Greenland,  sailed  across  what  is  now 
known  as  Davis  Strait,  and  had  discovered  Labra- 
dor, Newfoundland,  and  Nova  Scotia,  in  the  last  of 
which  countries  they  had  even  attempted  to  establish 
settlements.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  doubt  that,  in 
so  doing,  they  had  ranged  northwards  along  the 
coast  of  Labrador  as  far  as  the  entrance  to  Hudson's 
Strait,  more  especially  as  we  know  that,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Davis  Strait  (that  is,  on  the 
western  coast  of  Greenland)  they  had  ranged  some 
ten  degrees  further  to  the  north. 

But  the  discovery  of  Hudson's  Strait  by  the 
Northmen,  though  interesting,  has  little  or  no 
bearing  upon  the  present  question  ;  for,  although 
the  fact-  may  have  been  known  to  later  explorers 
of  that  region,  we  have  no  evidence  whatever  that 
it  was,  and  we  may,  therefore,  regard  the  discoveries 
of  the  latter  as  new. 

Writers  of  authority  have  stated  explicitly  that 
both  Cabot  in  1497  and  Gaspar  Corte-Real  in  1501 
ranged  far  enough  to  the  northward  along  the  coast  of 


lxxii      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

Labrador  to  reach,  and  even  to  enter,  Hudson's 
Strait  ;  but,  though  this  is  by  no  means  improbable, 
we  are  unable  to  find  any  definite  record  whatever 
in  support  of  the  statement. 

After  their  time,  many  voyages  were  made  by 
the  Portuguese  along  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland 
and  Labrador,  probably  in  the  main  for  fishing  pur- 
poses ;  but  of  the  details  of  these  voyages  we  know 
practically  nothing,  though  we  still  have  not  a 
few  of  the  charts  which  were  made  as  a  result  of 
them  ;  and  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  a  certain 
inlet  shown  on  some  of  these  charts — even  on  some 
of  very  early  date — represents  Hudson's  Strait. 

Coming  down  to  a  later  period,  we  find  that  a 
large  inlet  on  the  coast  of  Labrador,  in  lat.  6oc, 
is  shown  on  the  large  mappemonde  published  by- 
Gerard  Mercator  in  1569  under  the  name  of 
Golfam  de  Merosro,  and  also  in  the  famous  atlas 
published  by  Abraham  Ortelius  in  1570  under  the 
name  Baza  dos  Medatis  {i.e..  Bay  of  Sandbanks). 
This  inlet  has  been  identified  by  Dr.  Asher1  as 
Hudson's  Bay  and  by  Dr.  Kohl2  as  Ungava  Bay  ; 
but  we  believe  neither  of  these  writers  is  more 
than  partially  correct  in  his  identification.  That 
the  inlet  in  question,  as  shown  on  these  maps,  and 
on  many  later  ones  to  which  it  was  transferred,  was 
meant  for  Hudson's  Bay  or  Hudson's  Strait,  or  even 
for  both,  is  probable  ;  but  we  may  observe  that  the 


1  Henry  Hudson ',  p.  clxxi. 

'-'   Discovery  of  North  America,  p.  384. 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.      lxxiii 

inlet  has  an  earlier  history  which  is  too  intricate  and 
too  remote  for  us  to  enter  upon  here,  though  we 
hope  to  discuss  it  in  detail  upon  another  occasion. 

Hakluyt  speaks1  in  a  definite  manner  of  what  is, 
we  believe  (if  the  statement  be  true),  the  first 
recorded  occasion  on  which  Hudson's  Strait  was 
entered  by  any  navigator ;  but  unfortunately  the 
record  in  question  is  vague  and  open  to  grave 
suspicion,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Hakluyt 
says  he  makes  the  statement  on  the  authority  of  an 
exceptionally  reliable  Portuguese  gentleman.  The 
statement  is  to  the  effect  that,  in  the  year  1574, 
"which  [says  Hakluyt]  is  not  above  eight  years 
past",  one  Johannes  Corte-Real,  sailing  in  search  of 
a  North- West  Passage,  "  founde,  in  fiftie  eyghte 
degrees,  a  great  entrance,  exceeding  deep  and 
broad",  into  which  he  sailed  twenty  leagues  south- 
ward, after  which  he  was  obliged  to  return.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  (if  such  a  voyage  really  was 
made,  and  such  a  strait  really  discovered)  that 
strait  was  Hudson's  Strait,  though  the  entrance  to 
it  lies  in  lat.  6o°,  not  in  lat.  58°  ;  but  one  cannot 
avoid  a  suspicion  that  there  has  been  some  mistake 
as  to  the  date,  and  that  the  voyage  thus  alluded  to 
was  really  that  of  Gaspar  Corte-Real  in  1501.  It 
seems  not  improbable  that  Hakluyt  may  have 
misunderstood  his  informant  to  say  "eight"  years 
when  he  really  said  "  eighty ",  which  would  take  one 


1  Divers  Voyages  Touching  the  Discovery  of  America,  etc.  (1582), 
[prelim.,  p.  4].  (See  also  the  Hakluyt  Society's  reprint,  edited  by 
John  Winter  Jones  in  1850,  p.  7.) 


lxxiv       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

back  exactly  to  the  time  of  Gaspar  Corte- Real's 
voyage. 

Although,  therefore,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Hudson's  Strait  had  been  discovered,  and  in  part 
explored,  long  before,  the  earliest  reliable  record  we 
have  of  its  having  been  entered  is  that  contained 
in  the  narrative  of  Frobisher's  third  voyage  north- 
westward in  1578.  It  was  entered  by  him  on  that 
occasion  in  mistake  for  the  inlet  a  little  further  north 
which  still  bears  his  name,  and  he  called  it  his  "Mis- 
taken Strait  "  in  consequence.  Frobisher  himself 
believed  that  he  had  discovered  a  North-West 
Passage,  and  asserted,  after  his  return  home,  that,  had 
he  not  been  concerned  about  the  safety  of  the  rest  of 
his  fleet,  which  had  become  separated  from  him,  he 
both  could  and  would  have  sailed  through  it  into 
the  Pacific.  Circumstances,  however,  prevented 
any  continuation  of  the  search  by  Frobisher  ;  and 
when  (seven  years  later,  in  1585)  the  search  was 
recommenced  under  Davis,  Frobisher's  "  Mistaken 
Strait "  was  completely  neglected,  because  (for 
reasons  fully  explained  elsewhere)  it  was  supposed 
to  be  entered  from  the  east  coast  of  Greenland, 
instead  of  from  the  east  coast  of  America. 

Davis,  nevertheless,  in  the  course  of  his  three 
voyages  (1585-86-87)  passed  the  entrance  to  Hud- 
son's Strait,  and  observed  the  strong  current  set- 
ting out  of  it,  which  he  spoke  of  as  "  the  Furious 
Overfall";  but  he  had,  of  course,  no  idea  that  it  was 
identical  with  the  "  Mistaken  Strait"  of  Frobisher. 
On   that  occasion  also,  circumstances  prevented  its 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.      Ixxv 

further  exploration ;  for,  when  Davis  returned  to 
England,  he  found  his  country  threatened  by  the 
Spanish  "  Armada",  and  every  seaman  and  every 
ship  was  needed  in  its  defence. 

As  regards  Hudson's  Bay,  although  we  have 
no  evidence  that  any  navigator  had,  up  to  this 
time,  penetrated  Hudson's  Strait  far  enough  to 
reach  the  inland  sea  we  now  associate  with  Hudson's 
name,  there  had  already  appeared  on  some  earlier 
charts  (as  stated  above)  a  piece  of  water  which 
occupies  roughly  the  position  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
and  which  we  can  only  identify  with  that  so- 
called  "Bay";  and,  as  no  white  man  is  known 
to  have  reached  it  overland  at  so  early  a 
date,  it  may  have  been  thus  represented  on  the 
charts  in  question  in  consequence  of  information 
received  from  the  Indians,  just  as  Cartier,  in  his 
narrative  of  his  second  voyage  in  1535,  says1  that 
he  had  heard  a  report  as  to  the  existence  of  the 
Great  Lakes  long  before  any  white  man  had  actually 
reached  them — indeed,  the  charts  above  alluded  to 
give  some  reason  for  believing  that  these  reports  as 
to  the  existence  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  Hudson's 
Bay  were  at  first  confused  and  jumbled  up  together. 

For  the  resumption  of  the  search  after  its  dis- 
continuance by  Davis  in  1587,  we  are  indebted 
to  the  enterprise  of  the  East  India  Company,  which 
was  incorporated  by  Queen  Elizabeth  on  December 
31st,    1600.       On  the    24th   of   July    1601,    a   letter 

1  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol.  iii.  (1600),  p.  225. 


lxxvi       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

written  by  one  George  Weymouth,  a  navigator, 
"touching  an  attempte  to  be  made  for  the  Discovery 
of  a  North-west  Passage  to  the  Est  Indies",  was 
submitted  to  a  General  Court  of  the  Company.  On 
the  7th  of  August,  the  proposals  contained  in  the 
letter  were  adopted,  the  cost  of  the  contemplated 
expedition  being  estimated  at  ,£3,000.  A  record  of 
all  the  proceedings  in  connection  with  the  prepara- 
tions for  this  voyage  is  to  be  found  in  the  first 
Minute  Book  of  the  Company,  which  has  recently 
been  published  j1  but,  of  the  voyage  itself,  we  have 
no  account,  except  the  meagre  narrative  of  it  given 
by  Purchas,2  who  wrongly  ascribes  the  enterprise  to 
the  Muscovy  and  Turkey  Companies.  Weymouth 
sailed  on  May  2nd  1602,  and  returned  to  England 
on  August  5th  following,  this  speedy  return  having 
been  largely  due  to  a  mutiny  among  his  crew.  In 
his  narrative  of  the  voyage,  which  is  vague  and 
unsatisfactory,  we  meet  with  little  or  nothing  of 
note,  except  a  record  of  the  fact  that  on  the  26th 
of  July  he  entered  an  inlet,  which  he  describes  as 
having  been  forty  leagues  in  breadth,  and  into 
which  he  says  he  sailed  "  one  hundred  leagues  west 
and  by  south".  There  can  be  very  little  doubt  that 
the  inlet  was  that  now  known  as  Hudson's  Strait, 
although  Weymouth  seems  to  have  entered  it  rather 
by  accident  than  with  the  intention  of  following  up 
the    discoveries    of   Frobisher    and    Davis    in    that 

1  See  The  Daivn  of  British  Trade  to  the  East  Indies,  .  .  .,  by 
Henry  Stevens  (London,  1886,  8vo). 

2  Purchas  his  Pi/grimes,  Part  III,  pp.  809-814. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON^  BAY.        lxxvil 

direction.  Probably,  indeed  (for  reasons  already 
explained),  Weymouth  did  not  recognize  it  as  the 
inlet  Frobisher  had  spoken  of  as  "The  Mistaken 
Strait";  but  he  must  have  known  Davis's  description 
of  the  "Furious  Overfall",  in  Hakluyt's  work. 

Weymouth's  fruitless  voyage  seems  to  have 
damped  the  ardour  of  the  East  India  Company  ; 
and,  although  another  voyage  under  Weymouth  was 
projected  to  start  in  the  following  year  (no  doubt 
to  continue  the  exploration  of  the  inlet  Weymouth 
had  reported),  quarrels  arose,  and  the  enterprise  was 
abandoned.  After  that,  the  East  India  Company 
never  again  set  forth  solely  on  its  own  account  a 
voyage  in  search  of  a  North- West  Passage,  though 
it  several  times  afterwards  co-operated  with  others  of 
the  great  chartered  trading  companies  of  the  day  in 
despatching  such  voyages.  Thus,  in  1606,  it  com- 
bined with  "  The  Company  for  the  Discovery  of 
New  Trades"  (more  commonly  called  the  Muscovy 
Company)  in  the  dispatch  of  Knight's  ill-fated 
and  wholly-profitless  expedition  in  search  of  a 
passage.  Although  we  do  not  know  precisely  what 
were  Knight's  intentions,  it  is  probable  that  they 
were  to  continue  the  investigation  of  the  inlet 
entered  by  Weymouth  in  1602  ;  but  his  own  death, 
and  the  severe  injury  sustained  by  his  ship,  frustrated 
whatever  intentions  he  had.1 

1  For  an  account  of  Knight's  voyage,  see  Purchas  his  Pi/grimes, 
vol.  iii,  pp.  827-831  :  also,  The  Voyages  of  Sir  James  Lancaster  .  .  . 
and  Captain  John  Knight^  edited  by  Mr.  Clements  R.  Markham 
(Hakluyt  Society,  1877),  pp.  279-294. 


IXXviil      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-1620. 

Again  some  years  were  allowed  to  elapse  without 
any  attempt  being  made  to  follow  up  the  discoveries 
of  Frobisher,  Davis,  and  Weymouth.  Then,  at 
last,  came  both  the  opportunity  and  the  man. 
Henry  Hudson  (after  three  memorable,  though 
unavailing,  voyages  in  search  of  a  North-East 
Passage  to  China,  undertaken  in  the  years  1607, 
1608,  and  1609  respectively)  turned  his  attention 
north-westwards;  and,  in  the  spring  of  16 10,  he 
sailed  in  Weymouth's  old  vessel,  the  Discovery, 
with  the  expressed  intention  of  further  exploring 
the  promising  inlet.1  The  Muscovy  Company,  the 
East  India  Company,  and  twenty-three  private 
individuals  (all  of  whom  were  eminent  statesmen 
or  leading  merchants)  bore  the  expense  of  setting 
forth  the  expedition. 

Hudson's  voyage  in  search  of  a  North- West  Pas- 
sage (for  our  knowledge  of  which  we  are  mainly  in- 
debted to  Purchas2)  is  well  known,  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  importance  of  the  discoveries  made  upon  it, 
and  of  the  tragic  death  of  its  commander.  Hudson 
entered  the  inlet,  now  known  as  Hudson's  Strait,  on 
or  about  the  8th  of  July  16 10.  On  August  3rd, 
having  explored  the  entire  length  of  the  Strait,  he 
entered  what  is  now  known  as  Hudson's  Bay,  being 
(so  far  as  we  know)  the  first  navigator  who  ever  did 
so.  Sailing  southwards,  down  its  eastern  coast, 
Hudson  laid  up  his  ship  for  the  winter  in  what  is  now 

1  See  Henry  Hudson  the  Navigator,  edited  by  G.  M.  Asher, 
LL.D.  (Hakluyt  Society,  i860),  p.  ccix. 

2  Purchas  his  Pi/grimes,  vol.  iii,  pp.  576-608. 


MUNKS  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.        lxxix 

known  as  Rupert's  Bay.  On  or  about  the  15th  of 
the  following  June  (161 1),  the  ship  was  again  free, 
and  the  voyage  was  recommenced.  In  the  mean- 
time, however,  provisions  had  run  low,  and  the 
crew  viewed  with  natural  apprehension  the  captain's 
expressed  intention  to  continue  his  exploration 
westward.  A  few  days  later,  they  mutinied,  placing 
Hudson,  his  son,  and  six  others,  in  the  ship's 
shallop,  and  deserting  them,  as  has  been  so  often 
related.  Hudson  and  his  companions  were  never 
heard  of  again,  and  the  mutineers  returned  home, 
sailing  as  nearly  as  possible  over  the  route  by  which 
they  had  come. 

Discredited  men  as  they  were,  they  were  bearers 
of  news  which,  it  is  clear,  excited  the  keenest 
interest  in  England  on  their  return  thither  in  the 
autumn  of  161 1.  They  could  relate  that  they  had 
sailed  westward  for  six  hundred  miles,  in  the 
direction  in  which  it  was  desired  to  discover  a 
passage,  until  they  entered  a  large  open  sea. 
That  this  sea  was  not  the  Pacific  Ocean  (or,  as  it 
was  then  called,  "the  South  Sea")  which  they 
sought  to  reach,  they  must  have  known.  Doubtless, 
they  recognised  that  it  was  more  or  less  land-locked, 
although  no  land  to  the  westward,  north  of  Cape 
Henrietta  Maria,  in  lat.  55°,  had  been  actually 
sighted  ;  but  they  must  have  believed  that,  having 
got  thus  far  towards  the  Pacific,  but  little  was  re- 
quired to  enable  them  to  proceed  for  the  rest  of  the 
way  thither.  Indeed,  all  contemporary  evidence  goes 
to  show  that,  at  the  time,  it  was  fully  believed  by  all 


lxxX      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

the  leading  geographers  that  the  much-desired  and 
long-sought  passage  westward  to  China,  Japan, 
and  the  Indies  by  way  of  the  North  of  America 
had,  at  last,  been  actually  discovered,  and  that 
nothing  remained  to  be  done  but  to  equip  another 
expedition  to  sail  through  and  more  fully  ex- 
plore it. 

That  other  expedition  was  got  ready  with  the 
least  possible  delay,  and  sailed  under  Captain  (after- 
wards Admiral  Sir)  Thomas  Button  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  in  the  following  spring.  The 
influential  position  of  those  under  whose  auspices 
it  was  equipped  is  evidence  of  the  importance  of 
the  results  which  were  expected  from  it.  A  great 
trading  company  was  (after  the  manner  of  those 
days)  incorporated  by  Royal  License,  under  the 
name  of  "  The  Company  of  the  Merchants  of 
London,  Discoverers  of  the  North- West  Passage", 
with  the  Prince  of  Wales  as  its  head  and  ''Supreme 
Protector";  with  the  great  Sir  Thomas  Smyth — 
then  also  Governor  of  the  East  India  Company — as 
its  Governor  ;  and  with  25  Peers  of  the  Realm,  ^1 
Knights,  Baronets,  or  Court  Officials,  38  Esquires, 
and  188  Merchants  as  its  members — -together  no 
less  than  288  persons,  all  of  whom  were  eminent 
in  their  own  lines  at  the  time,  either  as  leading 
statesmen,  philanthropists,  members  of  Parliament, 
or  merchants.  Very  wide  powers  and  valuable 
privileges  (including  a  monopoly  for  ever  of  the 
trade  through  the  passage)  were  granted  to  this 
Company,   which,   after  the   failure  of   its  first   and 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.       1XXX1 

greatest    expedition    under    Button,    made    several 
other  energetic  attempts  to  discover  a  passage.1 

The  main  object  of  Button's  expedition  was  (as 
already  said)  to  continue  Hudson's  explorations  to 
the  westward  until  the  Pacific  (or  "  South  Sea") 
should  be  reached ;  and  the  instructions  Button 
received  for  his  guidance  whilst  upon  his  voyage 
(which  were  drawn  up  and  signed  by  Henry,  Prince 
of  Wales)  show  the  absolute  confidence  felt  at  the 
time  that  this  object  would  be  successfully  accom- 
plished. No  official  or  authoritative  account  of 
Button's  voyage  was  ever  published,  probably 
because,  although  Button  did  not  discover  the 
passage,  his  observations  still  left  grounds  for  hope 
that  it  might  be  discovered,  and  the  Company  of 
Discoverers  naturally  desired,  therefore,  to  keep 
to  themselves  the  knowledge  which  had  been 
gained.  Button's  journals  remained  in  his  posses- 
sion, we  know,  almost,  if  not  quite,  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death  ;  but,  although  he  promised  the  use  of 
them  to  Purchas  when  the  latter  was  compiling  his 
Pilgrimes1,  they  were  never  sent  and  are  now  lost. 
For  all  we  know  concerning  Button's  voyage,  we  are 
indebted  to  the  industry  and  inquisitiveness  of  Luke 
Foxe,  who  gathered  what  information  he  could  about 
it  from  Button's  companions,  and  published  it  in  1635 
in  his  North-  West  Fox. 

1  For  a  full  account  of  its  inception  and  constitution,  together 
with  a  verbatim  reprint  of  its  Charter,  see  The  Voyages  of  Foxe  and 
James  (Hakluyt  Society,  1894),  pp.  xxxviii-xlii  and  642-644. 

2  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  part  iii,  p.  848. 

f 


lxxxii      DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-1620. 

Button  sailed  in  April  1612.  He  himself  com- 
manded the  Resolution,  while  her  consort,  the 
Discovery  (Hudson's  old  ship),  was  commanded  by 
a  Captain  Ingram.  He  had  with  him  at  least  two 
of  the  leading  survivors  of  Hudson's  expedition, 
namely,  Bylot  and  Prickett.  After  reaching  the 
western  end  of  Hudson's  Strait,  Button  sailed  in 
a  south-westerly  direction  across  the  Bay,  passing 
the  southern  end  of  the  Southampton  Islands  (which 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  seen  by  Hudson), 
where  he  bestowed  the  strange  name  of  "Cary's 
Swan's  Nest"  on  the  cape  still  so-called.  Late  in 
July,  or  early  in  August,  he  encountered  the  western 
shore  of  the  bay  in  about  lat.  6o°  40'  N.,  at  a  point 
which  he  named  "  Hope's  Check",  because  there  his 
hope  of  an  easy  passage  westwards  to  the  Pacific 
received  a  check.  Thus  was  the  western  shore  of 
the  bay  reached  for  the  first  time.  Coasting  south- 
ward, Button  discovered  and  named  Port  Nelson, 
which  he  entered  on  August  15th.  Here  he 
wintered  amid  dire  hardship.  He  himself  was  ill 
all  the  winter,  and  sickness  carried  off  many  of  his 
men,  which  ultimately  caused  him  to  abandon  his 
larger  vessel,  the  Resolution.  In  the  spring,  sailing 
in  the  Discovery,  he  returned  northwards,  along  the 
western  coast.  In  lat.  6o°,  he  encountered  a  race  of 
tide  flowing  sometimes  from  the  east,  but  sometimes 
from  the  west,  apparently  indicating  the  existence 
of  a  passage  to  the  west ;  for  which  cause,  the  place 
was  called  Hubbart's  Hope,  from  Josias  Hubert,  or 
Hubbart,   one    of  the  crew.       These    expectations, 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.      IXXXlll 

however,  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  Tracing 
the  western  coast  of  the  bay  as  far  north  as  lat.  650, 
he  reached  a  point  which  he  named  "  Ne  Ultra", 
somewhere  in  what  is  now  known  as  Roe's  Welcome. 
From  this,  satisfied  that  no  passage  leading  westward 
was  to  be  found  there,  he  turned  back  homewards, 
coasting  the  south-eastern  shore  of  the  Southampton 
Islands.  At  the  western  end  of  Hudson's  Strait, 
he  paused  to  investigate  a  tide  or  current  which 
Hudson's  survivors  had  reported  to  flow  from  the 
north-west,  down  the  large  opening  now  known  as 
Foxe's  Channel.  Button  satisfied  himself  that  such 
a  current  existed,  and  comforted  himself  with  the 
hope  of  a  passage  in  that  direction  ;  but  the  season 
was  too  advanced  for  further  investigation  and  he 
returned  home,  arriving  in  England  about  the  end 
of  September  161 3. 

Keen  must  have  been  the  disappointment  felt  in 
England  on  Button's  return  thither.  His  prolonged 
absence,  caused  by  his  having  wintered  in  Hudson's 
Bay,  had  led  to  the  belief  that  he  had  passed  through 
the  supposed  passage  into  the  Pacific,  and  had  thus 
raised  still  higher  the  hopes  first  engendered  by  the 
discoveries  of  Hudson.  But  Button's  return  dashed 
all  these  expectations  roughly  to  the  ground  ;  and 
the  fact  that  he  was  able  still  to  report  hope  of 
the  existence  of  a  passage  leading  westward  in  a 
fresh  locality,  must  have  gone  but  a  short  way 
towards  appeasing  the  disappointment  felt  at  its 
non-discovery  in  the  locality  in  which  it  had  been 
so  confidently  expected. 

f  2 


Ixxxiv     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O 

Nevertheless,  the  ardour  of  the  "  Company  of 
Merchants  of  London,  Discoverers  of  the  North  - 
West  Passage",  was  not  exhausted.  Another  ex- 
pedition was  at  once  organised  to  investigate 
the  tide  or  current  which  had  been  observed  by 
both  Hudson's  and  Button's  expeditions.  It  was 
despatched  in  March  1614,  under  the  command  of  a 
Captain  Gibbon,  a  near  relative  of  Button  and  a 
companion  on  his  voyage.  The  undertaking,  how- 
ever, proved  a  miserable  failure.  Gibbon  even 
failed  to  enter  Hudson's  Strait,  and  spent  the 
summer  impounded  among  the  ice  in  one  of  the 
bays  upon  the  coast  of  Labrador. 

By  Gibbon's  failure,  a  year  of  valuable  time  had 
been  lost,  and  the  source  of  Button's  reported  tide 
had  not  been  further  investigated.  It  was  needful, 
therefore,  that  yet  another  expedition  should  be 
despatched  for  the  purpose  ;  and,  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year,  the  same  tireless  company  (or, 
at  any  rate,  certain  members  of  it)  again  despatched 
Hudson's  old  ship,  the  Discovery,  this  time  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Robert  Bylot,  who  had 
previously  sailed  in  the  same  quest  under  Hudson, 
Button,  and  Gibbon  successively,  and  who  had 
with  him  as  mate  one  William  Baffin,  a  young- 
seaman  of  exceptional  attainments  and  ability. 
Bylot  and  Baffin  accomplished  little  in  the  way 
of  fresh  discovery,  but  they  made  a  careful  survey 
of  Hudson's  Strait ;  and,  at  its  western  end,  they 
explored  (practically  for  the  first  time)  the  entrance 
to    the    large   sheet   of  water  we    now  call  Foxe's 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.    lxxxv 

Channel,  down  which  came  the  tide  or  current 
which,  it  was  hoped,  flowed  through  a  passage  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 
that  Foxe's  Channel  was  not  explored  by  Bylot  and 
Baffin  with  sufficient  thoroughness.  Becoming 
embayed  in  one  of  the  small  inlets  on  the  western 
side,  they  too  hastily  concluded  that  they  had 
reached  the  extremity  of  the  Channel,  and  relin- 
quished further  search  ;  whereas,  had  they  proceeded 
further  north,  they  might  have  discovered  the 
entrance  to  Fury  and  Hecla  Strait,  which  has  since 
proved  to  be  a  veritable  "  North-West  Passage" 
though  of  no  practical  value.  Upon  the  reported 
tide,  Bylot  and  Baffin  made  numerous  observations, 
but  it  did  not  appear  to  them  to  afford  any  evidence 
as  to  the  existence  or  otherwise  of  a  passage. 

After  the  return  home,  Baffin  expressed  a  some- 
what-too-premature and  too-dictatorial  opinion  that 
no  passage  existed  via  Hudson's  Strait,  and  that,  if 
one  existed  anywhere  else,  it  would  be  found  by 
exploring  the  northern  portion  of  Davis  Strait. 
Accordingly,  in  the  following  year  (1616),  Bylot 
and  Baffin  sailed  again,  under  the  same  auspices, 
and  in  the  same  ship,  in  order  this  time  to  search 
Davis  Strait.  Their  voyage  was,  in  some  ways, 
remarkably  successful,  and  led  to  the  discovery  of 
what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  Baffin's  Bay  ; 
but,  as  it  has  no  direct  connection  with  our  subject, 
it  need  not  be  further  noticed  here.  It  is  needful, 
however,  to  say  that  they  were  again  disappointed 
in  their  hoped-for  discovery  of  a  passage  ;  and  that, 


lxxxvi     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

after  their  return  home,  Baffin  expressed  an  opinion 
(in  terms  even  more  positive  than  those  employed 
the  year  before  in  reference  to  Hudson's  Strait) 
that  there  certainly  existed  no  passage  by  way  of 
Davis  Strait — an  opinion  which,  as  we  now  know, 
was  equally  erroneous. 

Apparently,  even  after  all  these  discouragements, 
the  enterprise  of  the  Company  of  the  Merchants  of 
London,  Discoverers  of  the  North-West  Passage, 
had  not  come  to  an  end  ;  for  there  is  some  reason  to 
believe  that,  within  the -next  few  years,  yet  another 
searching  voyage  was  despatched  by  it,  at  least  in 
part.  The  voyage  in  question  was  that  of  Captain 
William  Hawkridge,  which  most  recent  writers  have 
ascribed  to  the  year  1619.  It  seems  to  be  quite 
certain,  however,  that  this  date  is  wrong.  The  point 
has  been  briefly  noticed  in  Mr.  Christy's  Voyages  of 
Foxe  and  James  ;  but  it  deserves  fuller  consideration 
here,  because,  if  the  usually-accepted  date  for  Hawk- 
ridge's  voyage  (16 19)  can  be  maintained,  that  voyage 
would  have  taken  place  in  the  same  year  as  Munk's, 
and  they  must  have  been  in  Hudson's  Strait  at  the 
same  time.  We  believe,  however,  that  this  was  not 
the  case. 

Concerning  the  voyage  of  Captain  Hawkridge, 
we  have  absolutely  no  information  except  that  given 
by  Luke  Foxe  in  his  North-West  Fox,  published 
in  1635.  Foxe,  moreover,  gives  no  clue  whatever 
as  to  the  year  in  which  the  voyage  took  place,  or  as 
to  the  names  of  its  promoters.  Rundall,  however, 
in  1849,  relying  upon  a  certain  passage  in  the  Court 


munkVexpedition  to  Hudson's  bay.    lxxxvii 

Minute  Books  of  the  Old  East  India  Company, 
asserted  that  the  voyage  was  made  in  the  year 
1619,  and  that  it  was  promoted  by  Sir  John 
Wolstenholme  and  his  friends.1  But  an  examination 
of  the  record  upon  which  Rundall  relied  shows  that 
it  contains  nothing  whatever  in  support  of  his 
assumptions.  The  record  states  {Court  Minute 
Books,  vol.  iv,  fo.  114)  that,  at  a  "Court  of  Com- 
mittees" (which,  in  modern  parlance,  would  be 
called  a  Board  Meeting  of  Directors)  of  the  East 
India  Company,  held  on  the  "20th  of  January  t6i  7", 

"Sr  John  Wolstenholme  .  .  .  acquaynted  them  .  .  .  wth  an  intended 
tryall  to  be  made  once  againe  in  discouringe  the  Norwest  passage, 
wherein  Mr  Bullocke  tenders  his  service,  to  proceede  himselfe,  if 
Sr  John  Wolstenholme  will  procure  my  Lord  Threr  to  ioyne 
annother  in  the  pattent  wth  him,  for  the  good  of  his  child  yf  hee 
dye,  &  will  vndertake  to  end  a  difference  dependinge  betwixt  him 
and  a  gentleman.  Receyuinge  encouradgement  to  this  new 
Adventure,  by  reason  that  they  vnderstand  [that],  in  the  bottome  of 
Botton's  baye,  wch  runneth  in  450  leagues  from  the  mouth,  where 
a  greate  tyde  of  floode  runnes,  and  riseth  sometimes  17  or  18 
foote  in  height,  wch  is  supposed  cannott  bee  butt  by  some  Current 
from  the  sea  in  some  other  place,  wch  in  probabilitie  may  proue 
the  desired  passage,  whereof  Mr  Brigges  hath  a  very  greate  hope. 
But,  whereas  some  made  question  of  the  sufficyencie  and  arte  of 
Mr  Bullocke  to  vndertake  the  said  discovery,  they  were  enformed 
that  Mr  Brigges  approues  of  his  skill  and  houldes  him  a  man  of 
very  good  knowledge.  And,  therefore,  Sr  John  Wolstenholme 
mocond  thatt,  seeinge  this  Companie  have  formerlie  contributed 
to  the  said  discourye,  they  would  nowe  proceede  this  one  time  wlh 
such  a  some  as  they  shall  thinke  fitt,  himselfe  havinge  such  an 
affeccon  to  the  accon  as  that  he  intendes  a  good  round  Adventure 
in  his  owne  pticuler,  &  will  psuade  as  many  freindes  as  he  may, 

1    Voyages  towards  the  North-  IVest,  1496-1631  (Hakluyt  Society, 
1849),  P-  IS1- 


lxxxviii     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

whereby  to  raise  meanes  to  furnishe  forthe  2  pinnaces,  wch  will  cost 
2ooou.  And,  seeinge  the  matter  is  small  for  this  Companie,  and  that 
these  workes  bringe  forth  some  good  (as  the  [Arctic]  whale  fish- 
inge  was  founde  by  the  lyke  occasion),  yf  the  yssue  proue  good, 
this  Companie  are  lyke  to  be  ptakers  of  that  good  ;  butt,  yf  itt 
should  succeede  otherwise,  yet  the  deede  is  charitable :  They, 
therefore,  by  ereccon  of  handes,  did  graunte  an  Adventure  of 
2oou  towardes  the  same,  to  be  disburst  out  of  the  Accompts  of 
Fines." 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  foregoing*  record  contains  no  reference  whatever 
to  the  year  1619.  The  date  given  is  "January  2Cth, 
1 61 7",  which,  of  course,  corresponds  to  January 
20th,  1 61 8,  according  to  our  reckoning,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  with  16 19. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  observable  that  the 
record  contains  no  reference  whatever  to  Hawk- 
ridge,  but  that  it  relates  to  an  intended  expedition 
of  a  certain  Captain  Bullock,  of  which  nothing 
whatever  is  known.  It  may  be  that  Bullock's 
expedition  actually  took  place  in  the  year  16 18,  and 
that  Foxe  has  wrongly  ascribed  it  to  Hawkridge  ; 
or  it  may  be  that  it  took  place  in  some  other 
year,  and  that  Hawkridge  was  the  other  commander 
who  was  to  be  joined  with  Bullock  in  the  patent, 
and  who,  perhaps,  in  some  way,  managed  to  obtain 
the  chief  credit  for  the  expedition.  These  are  mere 
suppositions  ;  but,  as  has  been  elsewhere  pointed 
out,  Foxe's  information  about  Hawkridge's  voyage 
is  so  unsatisfactory  that  one  is  compelled  to  resort  to 
surmise.1 

1  See  The  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  p.  249,  note. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.     1XXX1X 

One  thing,  at  all  events,  is  clear  :  that  Captain 
William  Hawkridge  did  not  make  a  voyage  in 
search  of  a  North- West  Passage  in  either  of  the 
years  1618  or  161 9 — unless,  indeed,  there  were  two 
sea-captains  of  that  name,  of  which  we  have  no 
evidence.  For  the  "  Court  Minute  Books"  and 
the  volumes  of  Original  Correspondence  of  the 
East  India  Company  afford  ample  evidence  that 
Hawkridge  was  in  command  of  vessels  belonging  to 
that  company  in  the  East  Indies  and  elsewhere 
from  at  least  the  early  part  of  16 18  to  the  close  of 
1 619.  Thus,  in  a  letter  from  Thomas  Staverton  to 
President  Ball,  written  from  Sambopa,  in  Macassar, 
on  May  1 8th,  1 6 1 8  (Original  Correspondence,  no. 
651),  there  is  a  reference  to  "  Richard  Shortt,  one 
of  Mr.  Hawkridg  his  Mattes",  who  was  supposed  to 
have  deserted  to  a  Spanish  vessel.  In  another  letter 
to  President  Ball,  written  from  the  same  place  on 
September  19th,  161 8,  Staverton  says  (Original 
Correspondence,  no.  695)  that  a  certain  "Portingal" 
from  the  Moluccas  had 

"brought  newes  of  the  Shipp,  the  which  (by  many  circum- 
stances) I  presume  to  bee  true.  He  sayd  [that]  Mr  Hawkridg 
had  bine  att  Tyddore,  where  ptly  through  his  owne  good 
Carryadge,  hee  and  all  his  Compa  receeaued  kind  Vsadg  from  the 
Gouernor  ....  I  make  noe  doubtt  butt  Mr  Hawkridg  hath 
had  an  honest  Care  in  doing  for,  and  looking  to,  the  pties 
goods,  &c.  who  soe  vnfortunately  left  the  shipp,  as  Mr  Geo. 
Jackson,  Wm  S wetland,"  &c. 

We  next  hear  of  Hawkridge  in  a  letter  (Original 
Correspondence,  no.  784)  to  the  Company  from  Cap- 
tain Martin  Pring,  one  of  the  Company's  captains, 


XC  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

dated  from  on  board  the  James  Royal,  near  the  Isle 
of  Becie,  in  the  Strait  of  Sunda,  on  March  23rd, 
1 619,  in  which  Pring  says  that,  on  October  22nd, 
1618,  he  had  arrived  in  the  Road  of  Bantam  : — 

"  Here  [he  says]  wee  found  ye  Thomas,  Mr  Hawkeredge, 
maister,  who  arriued  here  the  daie  before  from  ye  Isle  of  Tidore, 
having  narrowly  escaped  ye  fflemings  &  gotten  about  40  pecul  of 
Cloues,  through  ye  friendship  of  ye  Gournour.  The  cause  of  his 
goinge  to  the  Moluccaes  was  yl  hee  had  lost  ye  Company  of  ye 
4  Shippes  which  afterwards  were  taken  by  ye  Dutch  neare  ye  Isles 
of  Banda." 

We  next  meet  {Original  Coi'respondence,  no. 
718)  with  the  Minutes  of  a  Consultation,  held  in 
Jacatra  Roads  on  December  20th,  16 18,  for  the 
ordering  of  the  intended  fight  the  following  morning 
between  the  English  and  Dutch  fleets.  This  is 
signed  by  fourteen  captains  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company,  including  Hawkridge  (whose 
autograph    is    reproduced    hereunder),    Sir  Thomas 


^:  ^^^^^. 


Dale  being  "Generall".      Finally,  we  find  (C  M.  B. 
iv,   fo.   464)   that,    at   a   Court  of  Committees  held 
on  December  3rd,  1619, 

"  certayne  Ires  .  .  .  [containing  accounts  of  the  bad  weather 
&  of  the  narrow  escape  from  shipwreck  of  the  fames]  written 
from  Silley  by  Mr  Quoitmore,  Mr  Bennet,  Mr  Hawkeridge,  and 
Mr  Totten,  from  abourd  the  little  fames  and  Suplye,  in  the  road 
of  Silley,  bearing  date  the  22th  of  November  last,  were  nowe  red." 

Now    we    may    regard    it    as    certain,    from    the 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XC1 

position  of  the  narrative  of  Hawkridge's  voyage 
in  Foxe's  work,  that  that  voyage  took  place 
between  Bylot  and  Baffin's  second  voyage  in  1616 
and  Foxe's  own  voyage  in  1631  ;  and,  if  (as  has 
been  already  shown)  it  did  not  take  place  in  either 
1 61 8  or  1 6 19,  it  must  have  been  despatched  either 
in  161 7  or  after  16 19. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  very  extraordinary  energy 
with  which  the  Company  of  Discoverers  of  the 
North- West  Passage  had  hitherto  followed  up  the 
search,  never  allowing  a  year  to  elapse  after  the 
return  of  one  unsuccessful  expedition  without  des- 
patching another  with  the  same  object  in  view,  it 
would  be  natural  to  conclude  that  Hawkridge's 
voyage  was  another  belonging  to  the  same  series 
and  despatched  by  the  same  tireless  company  in  the 
year  following  the  return  of  Bylot  and  Baffin  ( 1 6 1 7) ; 
but,  in  that  case,  it  seems  probable  that  we  should 
find  some  mention  of  it  among  the  ancient  records 
of  the  East  India  Company,  which  we  do  not — 
unless,  indeed,  it  was  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  intended  voyage  under  Captain  Bullock,  already 
mentioned. 

There  is,  however,  another  permissible  suppo- 
sition :  we  know  that,  in  the  spring  of  1625,  Sir 
John  Wolstenholme  and  some  of  his  friends  were 
actively  entertaining  the  project  of  another  Arctic 
expedition,  and  that  for  this  purpose  the  King  had 
granted  the  pinnace  Lion  s  Whelp;1  but  we  have  no 

1  See  The  Voyages  of  Fox  e  and  James,  p.  lxxvii;  the  Coke  Papers 


Xcii        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

record  of  any  voyage  resulting.  It  may  be,  how- 
ever, that  the  voyage  was  actually  made,  and  that  it 
was  commanded  by  Hawkridge,  who,  we  know, 
lived  until  at  least  six  years  later.1  This  supposition 
is,  perhaps,  to  some  extent,  supported  by  the  fact 
that  Foxe,  in  his  book  (p.  166,  Ed.  1635),  prints 
Hawkridge's  voyage  after  a  discourse  by  Purchas 
and  Briggs  on  the  probability  of  the  existence  of  a 
North-West  Passage,  which  follows  Bylot  and 
Baffin's  voyages,  though  it  has  no  special  connection 
with  them,  and  which  (one  might  reasonably  con- 


(Reftorts  Roy.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.,  no.  xii,  1888),  vol.  i,  p.  183; 
State  Papers,  Dom.,Jas.  I,  vol.  clxxxv,  no.  82  ;  Do.,  Chas.  I,  War- 
rant Book,  21,  no.  7;  Docquets,  June  25,  1625  ;  S.  P.,  Dom.,  Chas.  I, 
vol.  i,  nos.  37  and  95;  also  Rymer's  Foedera,  vol.  xviii  (1726),  p.  166. 
1  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  p.  1.  In  addition  to  the  information 
given  in  this  place  concerning  Hawkridge,  we  may  point  out  that 
he  had  formerly  been  in  the  Newfoundland  trade,  of  which  we 
have  evidence  in  a  statement  by  Captain  Richard  Whitbourne, 
who  says  (A  Discourse  and  Discovery  of  New-found-land,  London, 
40,  1620,  p.  [73]),  that,  in  the  year  1610,  one  morning  early,  as 
he  was  standing  by  the  water's  side,  in  the  Harbour  of  St.  John's, 
a  strange  and  beautiful  creature  with  a  head  and  face  resembling 
a  woman,  shoulders  square  and  white  like  those  of  a  man,  and  a 
fluked  tail,  swam  towards  him  and  approached  so  close  to  him 
that  he  retreated  from  the  water's  edge ;  "  but  the  same  came 
shortly  after  vnto  a  boate,  wherein  one  William  Haivkridge,  then 
my  servant,  was;  that  hath  bin  since  a  Captaine  in  a  ship  to  the 
East  Indies,  and  is  lately  there  imployed  againe  by  Sir  Thomas 
Smith  in  the  like  voyage ;  and  the  same  creature  did  put  both 
his  handes  vpon  the  side  of  the  boate,  and  did  striue  to  come  in 
to  him  and  others  then  in  the  said  boate,  whereat  they  were 
afraide,  and  one  of  them  Strooke  it  a  full  blow  on  the  head, 
whereby  it  fell  off  from  them.  .  .  .  This  (I  suppose)  was  a  mare- 
maide."      Captain  Whitbourne  was  an  Exmouth  man. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XC111 

elude)  Foxe  must  have  thought  most  fitting  as  a 
conclusion  to  his  account  of  the  voyages  preceding 
his  own. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  that  Hawkridge's  expe- 
dition took  place  in  1625,  not  long  previous  to 
Foxe's ;  that  Foxe  only  succeeded  in  obtaining 
information  about  it  at  the  last  moment;  and  that 
he  then  added  it  at  the  end  of  his  account  of 
North-West  voyages  previous  to  his  own,  after 
what  he  had  intended  as  the  conclusion  of  that 
portion  of  his  book.  That  Foxe's  narrative  of 
Hawkridge's  voyage  was  printed  hurriedly,  or 
under  some  other  difficulty,  seems  certain,  to 
judge  from  the  confusion  it  displays.1  If  this 
supposition  as  to  the  date  of  Hawkridge's  voyage 
should,  hereafter,  prove  to  be  correct,  it  would 
also  account  for  the  otherwise  inexplicable  fact 
that  no  mention  of  Hawkridge's  voyage  occurs  in 
Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  published  in  1625.  The 
industry  of  Purchas  was  so  great  that  it  is  not 
easy  to  believe  that,  had  Hawkridge's  voyage  taken 
place  before  1625,  he  would  not  have  heard  of 
and  mentioned  it.  The  fact,  too,  that  Whitbourne, 
writing  (as  quoted  above)  in  1620,  makes  no 
reference  to  any  voyage  made  by  Hawkridge  in 
search  of  a  North-West  Passage,  while  he  mentions 
his  East  Indian  voyages,  is  against  16 17  and  in 
favour  of  1625,  as  the  date  of  Hawkridge's  North- 
West  voyage. 

1  See   The    Voyages  of  Foxe  and  Ja??ies,  p.   257,  note. 

# 


Xciv         DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

We  still  remain,  therefore,  almost  entirely  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  year  in  which  Hawkridge's 
mysterious  voyage  took  place,  and  as  to  whether 
it  took  place  before  or  after  Munk's  voyage  in  1619. 
It  would,  of  course,  be  interesting  if  the  point 
could  be  settled  decisively ;  but,  fortunately,  it 
is  by  no  means  necessary  for  our  present  purpose 
that  the  doubt  should  be  cleared  up ;  for,  even 
if  Hawkridge's  voyage  did  take  place  before 
Munk's,  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that 
Munk  knewT  of  the  fact,  or  that  it  had  any  influence 
on  his  proceedings. 

Leaving,  therefore,  the  date  of  Hawkridge's 
voyage  as  uncertain,  and  of  comparatively  little 
consequence  in  this  connexion,  we  may  fitly 
conclude  this  survey  of  the  voyages  which  preceded 
Munk's  by  stating  how  the  problem  of  finding  a 
North-West  passage  through  Hudson's  Strait  and 
Bay  stood  in  1619,  when  Munk  started  on  his 
expedition  to  attempt  a  solution  of  it.  It  will 
be  found  that  the  coasts  of  both  the  Strait  and 
the  Bay  had  been  so  far  examined  that  there 
only  remained  four  points  which  either  really  were 
as  yet  unexplored  or  insufficiently  explored,  or  in 
which  the  existence  of  a  passage  was  still  thought 
probable,  in  spite  of  the  negative  results  of  previous 
expeditions. 

Firstly,  there  was  the  waterway,  now  known  as 
Foxe  Channel,  running  northward  from  the  western 
end    of    Hudson's    Strait.       This    is  still   very    im- 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XCV 

perfectly  known  ;  but,  in  1619,  it  was  totally 
unknown,  except  through  the  very  cursory  examina- 
tion of  its  southern  end  made  by  Bylot  and  Baffin 
in  161 5  (see  p.  lxxxv). 

Secondly,  there  was  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
channel  now  known  as  Sir  Thomas  Roe's  Welcome. 
In  161 9,  this  region  had  only  been  visited  by  Sir 
Thomas  Button,  who  had  more  or  less  explored  it 
in  161 3,  but  who  had  turned  back  (without,  appa- 
rently, sufficient  cause)  on  reaching  a  point  which, 
for  a  long  time  after,  was  known  as  "  Button's  Ne 
Ultra"  (see  p.  lxxxiii).  Button's  examination  had 
not  been  so  detailed  as  altogether  to  preclude  the 
hope  of  a  westward  extension  of  the  channel. 

Thirdly,  it  was  thought  by  many  that  a  passage 
would  be  found  on  the  west  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
at  a  spot  known,  since  Button's  expedition,  as 
Hubbart's  Hope  (see  p.  lxxxii).  Although  Button's 
expedition  failed  to  find  any  passage,  Hubart  did 
not,  as  it  appears,  abandon  his  expectation  ;  and  his 
views  were  adopted  by  many  persons  in  England, 
notably  by  Professor  Briggs.  The  latter  seems 
to  have  thought  that  the  passage  would  be  found 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  what  we  now  call  Churchill 
Bay,1  and  with  this  view  the  latter  was  explored 
by  Foxe  and  James.  The  question  of  Hubart's 
Hope  will  be  discussed  later  on.  Suffice  it  here 
to  say  that  to  this  point  an  expedition  might  very 
properly  be  directed  in  16 19. 

1  See  Purchas  his  Pilgri??ies  (1625),  part  iii,  p.  848,  and  map. 


XCvi        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

Fourthly,  there  was  the  still-totally-unexplored 
southern  coast-line  of  Hudson's  Bay,  between  Hud- 
son's westernmost  point  at  Cape  Henrietta  Maria 
(see  p.  lxxix)  and  Button's  easternmost  at  Port 
Nelson  (see  p.  lxxxii), 

The  exploration  of  one  or  more  of  these  four 
points  might,  therefore,  as  matters  stood  in  1619, 
very  well  form  the  object  of  further  researches  ; 
and,  when  we  come  to  consider  Jens  Munk's  account 
of  the  expedition  which  started  in  that  year  under 
his  command,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  was  probably 
directed  towards  the  third  of  these  points.  In  so 
far,  it  forms  a  direct  continuation  of  the  preceding 
voyages,  although,  of  course,  in  other  respects,  it 
occupies  a  place  quite  outside  the  series  of  English 
expeditions. 

Looking  back  on  this  series  of  voyages,  it  may 
seem  to  us,  with  our  geographical  knowledge,  a 
somewhat  unreasonable  idea  that  a  communication 
might  exist  between  the  western  shore  of  Hudson's 
Bay  and  the  Pacific,  right  through  the  mainland 
of  the  Continent  of  America.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that,  at  the  time  in  question,  the 
interior  of. '-North  America  was  totally  unknown, 
and  there  were  no  means  of  guessing  whether  it  was 
all  a  solid  continent  or  not. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  nearly  a  century  and  a  half 
elapsed  after  the  date  of  Munk's  voyage  before  the 
world  was  fully  and  finally  convinced  of  the  non- 
existence of  a  passage  leading  westwards  or  north- 
westwards from  Hudson's  Bay  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


munk!s  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.      xcvii 


IV. — Preliminary  Observations  on  Jens  Munk's 
Expedition  to  Hudson  s  Bay. 

In  our  sketch  of  Munk's  life,  we  have  already 
sufficiently  explained  the  circumstances  and  con- 
siderations which  may  with  probability  be  looked 
upon  as  having  induced  the  King  of  Denmark  to 
send  out  an  expedition  in  1619  for  the  purpose  of 
attempting  the  discovery  of  a  North-West  Passage. 
It  remains  to  consider  the  actual  preparations  made 
for  the  attainment  of  that  object. 

The  first  and  most  important  subject  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  this  connexion  would  naturally  be  the 
instructions  which,  as  we  are  told,  were  given  to 
Munk,  in  his  capacity  as  commander  of  the  Expedi- 
tion, according  to  the  usual  custom  in  such  cases. 
But  we  meet  here  with  the  difficulty  that,  although 
Munk  several  times  alludes  to  his  instructions,  he 
does  not  reproduce  them ;  nor  is  any  copy  or  abstract 
of  them  known  to  exist.  We  are,  therefore, 
unable  to  supply  the  reader  of  Munk's  account  of 
his  voyage  with  the  guidance  which  a  knowledge  of  his 
instructions  would  afford.  It  is,  of  course,  generally 
speaking,  quite  feasible,  from  an  account  of  this  kind, 
to  form  more  or  less  safe  inferences  as  to  what  was 
intended  to  be  done,  and  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  to  be  done  ;  but,  as  any  discussion  of  these 
points  would  presuppose  a  very  detailed  knowledge 
of  the  text,  we  could  not  enter  upon  it  in  this  place 
without  largely  anticipating  what  properly  has  to 
be  said  later  on  ;  and,  after  all,  if,   having  deduced 

g 


XCvili     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

the  contents  of  the  instructions  from  the  narrative, 
we  were  to  pretend,  by  their  means,  to  guide  the 
reader  to  a  right  understanding  of  that  narrative, 
we  should  simply  be  reasoning  in  a  circle.  Our  ob- 
servations on  this  subject  must,  therefore,  be 
postponed,  and  will  suitably  find  a  place  in  con- 
nexion with  what  we  have  to  say  on  the  results  of 
the  voyage. 

Before,  however,  leaving  this  subject  for  the 
present,  we  may  observe  that  there  is  nothing  at  all 
surprising  in  the  absence  of  any  record  of  Munk's 
instructions ;  nor  does  there  appear  to  be  the 
smallest  occasion  for  surmising,  on  that  account, 
as  has  been  done,1  that  the  document  has  been 
purposely  destroyed.  It  may  be  questioned  whether 
any  of  the  numerous  similar  documents  of  the  same 
period  are  still  preserved  in  Denmark  ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  we  should  have  known  very  little  of 
their  contents  but  for  the  office-copies  entered  in  the 
registers  of  the  Danish  Chancery,  to  which  we  have 
already  often  referred.  Such  copies  were,  however, 
by  no  means  always  taken,2  and  Munk's  instructions 
for  this  voyage  are  far  from  being  the  only  ones 
of  the  kind  which  have  not  been  so  entered.  No 
sufficient  reason  can  be  adduced  for  thinking  this 
omission  intentional.  Even  supposing  (which  is 
most    improbable)   that    the    document   in    question 

1  See  Mr.  Lauridsen's  edition  of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis, 
p.  xix. 

2  There  is,  for  instance,  no  record  of  Cunningham's  instructions 
in  1605,  or  of  those  of  Godske  Lindenow  in  1606. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  XC1X 

contained  information  which  it  was  desired  to  keep 
secret,  there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  not 
entering  it  in  the  books  of  the  Chancery,  where 
it  would  have  been  perfectly  safe.  For  aught  we 
know,  therefore,  the  absence  of  any  office-copy  of 
Munk's  instructions  is  purely  accidental. 

Without    the    text    of    Munk's    instructions,    we 
cannot  tell  with  any  certainty  what  he  was  directed 
to  do,   except    in   so  far   as   it  is    disclosed  by  his 
narrative  ;  but,  in  forming  an  opinion,   we  shall  be 
much   assisted  by    taking    into    consideration   what 
information  he,   or   those   from    whom  he    had    his 
instructions,    may    be    supposed    to    have    been    in 
possession  of  with  regard  to  the  main  object  of  his 
voyage,  and  as  to  the  ways  and  means  of  accomplish- 
ing it.      In  this  respect,  it  may  be  observed,  in  the 
first  instance,   that,  if  (as  the  historian  Niels  Slange 
says)  Munk  really  was  himself  the  principal  mover 
in   the   matter,  he  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to 
have    thoroughly    informed    himself    about    it  ;    in 
which  case,  we  may  fairly  assume  that  the  instruc- 
tions given   him  mainly  embodied  his  own  propo- 
sitions,   as   approved   by    the    King.      But,   even    if 
Slange's   statement    is    not    correct — and    we    have 
expressed  our  doubts  concerning  it  (see  p.  xxviii) — 
we  may  rest  equally  well  assured  that  every  available 
source  of  information  was  drawn  upon.      In  spite  of 
his    spirit  and    activity,    Christian    IV   was    neither 
rash   nor  imprudent,    and  was    not  likely    to  enter 
upon  such  an  undertaking  without  obtaining  all  the 
information  available  concerning  it. 

g*2 


C  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

The  sources  of  information  which,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  were  open  to  the  King  and  his  advisers 
were  of  two  kinds — partly  literary  (viz.,  published 
books  and  maps),  and  partly  personal  {viz.,  individuals 
possessing  an  actual  acquaintance  with  Arctic  navi- 
gation in  general  and  with'  the  problem  of  the 
North- West  Passage  in  particular).  As  regards  the 
former,  only  those  would  be  of  practical  value 
which  had  been  published  since  Hudson's  last 
voyage  in  16 10,  because  the  object  of  the  new 
expedition  was  to  follow  up  Hudson's  discoveries.  Of 
such  publications,  there  were  only  two  containing 
original  matter,  viz.,  Hudson's  map  (as  published  by 
Hessel  Gerritsz.  in  161 2)  and  Purchas'  Pilgrimage,  of 
which  the  third  edition,  published  in  16 17,  contained 
not  only  additional  information  on  Hudson's  voyage, 
but  an  important  though  short  notice  on  Button's 
voyage  in  1612-13,  together  with  some  account  of 
Bylot  and  Baffin's  voyage  in  16 15. 

That  Hessel  Gerritsz. 's  map  was  known  at 
Copenhagen  can  scarcely  be  doubted.  Denmark 
was  neither  an  unlettered  nor  an  isolated  country, 
even  in  those  days.  The  writings  of  the  Bartholins, 
the  Wormius,  and  others,  prove  that  the  savants  of 
Copenhagen  were  in  too  close  communication  with 
the  rest  of  the  world  for  a  book  attracting  so  much 
attention  to  remain  unknown  to  them,  particularly 
if  written  in  Latin.  Scholars  are  well  aware  how 
quickly,  at  that  time,  Latin  books  spread  throughout 
Western  Europe,  on  account  of  their  being  under- 
stood equally  well  everywhere — an  advantage  which 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  CI 

was  lost  when  scientific  authors  commenced  to 
publish  their  works  in  the  vulgar  tongues.  More- 
over, the  intercourse  between  Denmark  and  Holland 
was  lively,  and  the  Dutch  language  was  understood 
by  many  in  Denmark.  Hessel  Gerritsz.  published 
the  map  in  question  in  the  summer  of  1612,  with  an 
explanation  in  Dutch  printed  on  the  back  ;  but  a 
Latin  translation  quickly  followed,  and  new  editions 
of  both  soon  appeared.  Two  German  editions  were 
published  in  1613  ;  and,  in  the  same  year,  an  abridged 
English  translation  found  room  in  Purchas'  Pilgrim- 
age}  In  some  form,  the  map  was  doubtless  known 
in  Denmark  ;  and  that  Munk  was  more  particularly 
acquainted  with  the  Dutch  explanation  of  it  may, 
perhaps,  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  in  referring 
to  Lumley's  Inlet,  he  spells  the  word  Lumley's 
sometimes  "  Lomlis",  as  it  is  on  Hessel  Gerritsz. 's 
map,  sometimes  "  Lomblis",  corresponding  to  the 
spelling  Lumbley  in  the  Dutch  explanation.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Munk  made  use  of  this  map  in 
writing  his  published  account  of  the  voyage  ;  but  it  is 
not  certain  that  he  had  a  copy  with  him  on  the 
voyage. 

As  regards  Purchas'  Pilgrimage,  the  case  is 
different,  in  so  far  that,  being  an  English  book,  it 
may  not  have  been  known  in  Denmark.  But  this 
makes  little  difference  for  our  present  purpose, 
because  whatever  information  might  be  derived  from 
that   work   became,   in    all   probability,   available    to 

1  First  Edition  (16 13),  p.  624. 


cii  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

Munk  and  whoever  had  to  draw  up  his  instructions, 
through  the  medium  of  the  personal  sources  of 
information  which  were  open  to  them,  and  to  which 
we  must  next  turn  our  attention. 

Thanks  to  the  expeditions  which  had  been 
sent  out  to  Greenland  and  to  Nova  Zembla  not 
many  years  before,  men  who  possessed  a  certain 
measure  of  experience  in  Arctic  navigation  were 
not  altogether  wanting  in  Denmark  at  the  time;  but, 
as  far  as  is  known,  none  were  to  be  found  there  who 
had  been  to  the  northern  part  of  the  Continent  of 
America,  or  who  had  had  any  opportunity  of  acquir- 
ing particular  knowledge  of  those  parts  of  the  sea 
which  Munk's  Expedition  was  intended  to  examine. 
The  previous  explorers  of  Hudson's  Strait  and  Bay 
had  all  been  English;  and  it  was  from  England  alone 
that  men  could  be  obtained  whose  assistance  as 
pilots  would  be  of  any  value.  Such  men  were, 
accordingly,  obtained  ;  and,  just  as  James  Hall  and 
John  Knight  had  been  engaged  for  the  expedition 
to  Greenland  in  1605,  so  tne  services  of  two  other 
Englishmen,  William  Gordon  and  John  Watson, 
were  secured  for  the  voyage  to  Hudson's  Bay  in 
1 61 9.  As  will  be  stated  more  fully  hereafter,  there 
is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  extent  of  the  actual 
experience  of  these  two  men,  and  particularly  as  to 
whether  either  of  them  had  been  previously  to 
Hudson's  Bay.  As  regards  Gordon,  at  any  rate,  it 
is  known  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Baffin  and, 
very  likely,  with  other  navigators  who  had  been  to 
Hudson's    Bay  ;     and    he   may    therefore    fairly    be 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  Clll 

assumed  to  have  been  in  possession  of  whatever 
knowledge  about  the  Strait  and  Bay,  and  about  the 
probability  of  a  passage  existing  thereabouts,  that 
was  then  known  in  England  in  circles  interested  in 
Arctic  matters.  Taking  this  into  consideration,  we 
shall  probably  not  err  if  we  state,  as  our  belief,  that 
so  much  at  least  as  had  been  published  by  Purchas 
was  at  the  disposal,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  Munk 
and  of  those  who  planned  his  Expedition  ;  and 
there  would  be  nothing  unreasonable  in  surmising 
that  still  further  information  had  come  to  their  know- 
ledge through  Gordon  and  Watson. 

Purchas'  notice  of  Button's  voyage  is  of  particular 
interest  in  this  connexion.      It  is  as  follows  •} 

"This  newes  so  incouraged  the  Aduenturers  that,  by  the  gracious 
assistance  of .  .  .  Prince  Henry,  the  Aduenturers  .  .  .  pursued  the 
action  in  a  more  Royall  fashion,  with  greater  shipping  vnder  the 
command  of  a  worthy  seaman,  seruant  to  Prince  Henry,  Captaine 
Thomas  Button,  whose  Discovery  of  a  great  Continent  called  by 
him  New  Wales,  and  other  accidents  of  his  Voyage,  I  haue  not 
seene  :  only  I  haue  seene  a  Chart  of  those  discouered  places,  and 
I  heare  that  hee  passed  Hudson's  Strait  and,  leauing  Hudson's  Bay 
to  the  south, 2sayled  aboue  200  leagues  South-West  ward,  ouer  a  Sea 
aboue  80  fathom  deep,  without  sight  of  Land,  which  at  length  he 
found  to  be  another  great  Bay.  And,  after  much  miserie  of  sick- 
nesse  in  his  wintering,  notwithstanding  hee  was  forced  to  quit  the 
great  ship,  he  beat  and  searched  the  whole  Bay  with  very  great 
Industrie,  euen  backe  againe  almost  to  Digges  Hand,  neare  which 
hee  found  the  coming  in  of  the  great  and  strong  tyde  from  the 
North  West,  which  feeds  both  those  huge  Bayes." 

1  Purchas  his  Pilgrimage,  3rd  Edition  (161 7),  p.  926. 

2  It  will  be  remembered  that  originally  this  name  applied  only 
to  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  bay,  as  distinct  from  the 
western  part*  for  some  time  known  as  Button's  Bay. 


civ  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

If  nothing  more  than  this,  and  the  negative  result 
of  Bylot's  voyage  in  1 6 1 5,  had  been  known  in 
Denmark  in  16 19,  one  might  naturally  wonder  that 
any  expedition  should  have  been  then  sent  out  at  all 
to  Hudson's  Bay.  It  is,  therefore,  probable  that  it 
was  further  known  at  Copenhagen  that,  in  spite  of 
these  explorers  having  failed  to  discover  a  passage 
westwards  out  of  the  Bay,  the  idea  of  such  a  passage 
existing  was  still  entertained  by  many  in  England. 
We  have  stated  above  that,  in  16 19,  there  remained 
unexplored,  or  not  sufficiently  explored,  four  different 
points  in  the  circumference  of  Hudson's  Bay  where 
a  passage  might  still  be  sought  for,  and  that,  more 
particularly,  it  was  by  many  considered  not  unlikely 
that  an  opening  westwards  would  be  found  near  a 
point  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Bay  called  Hubbart's 
Hope.  There  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  supposing 
that  this  had  come  to  the  ears  of  the  King  of 
Denmark  and  his  advisers,  and  that  they  thought 
the  chance  good  enough  to  justify  the  sending  out 
of  an  expedition. 

As  regards  sources  of  information,  we  may  finally 
observe  that  intelligence  may  probably  have  been 
obtained  through  the  same  channel  (whatever  that 
was)  through  which  the  services  of  Gordon  and 
Watson  were  obtained. 

Jens  Munk's  expedition  consisted  of  two  vessels, 
both  belonging  to  the  Danish  Navy,  probably 
selected  by  Munk  himself,  and  equipped  (as  the 
custom    of   that    time    was)  under   his   own    super- 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  CV 

intendence,  viz.y  a  small  frigate  called  Enhiomingen 
[The  Unicorn)  and  a  sloop  called  Lamprenen  [The 
Lamprey). 

The  name  of  the  frigate  was  probably  not 
derived  from  the  Unicorn  of  the  Ancients,  but  from 
the  Narwhal,  which  is  also  called  Enhibrning  in 
Danish,  and  is  mentioned  by  English  writers  of 
that  period  under  the  name  of  the  "  Sea-Unicorn". 
The  fabled  Unicorn  of  the  Ancients  was  supposed  to 
be  a  quadruped  possessed  of  enormous  strength  and 
vital  power,  which  was  concentrated  in  its  great 
frontal  "  horn".  To  the  horn,  therefore,  marvellous 
virtue  was  ascribed,  and  it  was  eagerly  sought  for  ; 
but,  as  the  animal  did  not  exist,  the  real  horn  was, 
of  course,  not  obtainable.  Various  substances,  how- 
ever, were  sold  for  it,  and  amongst  them  fragments 
of  the  beautiful  twisted  tusks  of  the  Narwhal.  The 
Narwhal  had  been  of  course,  known  from  earJy  times 
to  the  mariners  of  the  extreme  North,  but  elsewhere 
it  was  unknown,  and  very  few  persons  had  any  idea 
of  the  true  origin  of  the  so-called  "  Unicorn's  horn". 
It  was  only  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak  that  the 
animal  became  known  to  the  world  at  large,  through 
the  narratives  of  whalers  and  other  Arctic  navi- 
gators, though  it  was  some  time  before  it  was 
understood  that  the  "horn"  was  really  a  tooth,  and 
that  it  was  not  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead, 
where  it  was  often  depicted — for  instance,  on  Hall's 
maps  of  the  coast  of  Greenland.  It  was  thought  a 
notable  event,  worthy  of  being  chronicled  by  Niels 
Slange  in  his  History  of  Christian  IV,  that,  in  the 


CV1  DANISH  ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

year  1605,  a  specimen  of  this  animal,  30  ft.  long  (of 
which  the  tusk  represented  six),  was  captured  off 
Iceland,  the  skull,  with  the  tusk,  being  valued  at 
between  30,000  and  40,000  Danish  Rixdollars  (about 
^jOOo).1  It  was  very  likely  this  event  which 
caused  the  frigate  Enhiorningen  to  be  so  named  ;  for 
she  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Danish  records  before 
1 6 10,  when  she  was  in  the  Baltic,  in  the  fleet  com- 
manded by  Mogeus  Ulfeld.  She  was,  therefore, 
probably  built  not  long  after  the  capture  in  question. 
In  any  case,  the  name,  being  that  of  a  marine 
monster,  was  by  no  means  unsuitable  for  a  man-of- 
war. 

Enhiorningen  was  probably  a  good  ship,  as 
she  is  mentioned  several  times  as  being  in  com- 
mission ;  but  nothing  is  known  with  certainty  about 
her  armament.  Of  the  cannon  belonging  to  her, 
which  were  found  long  afterwards  at  her  wintering- 
place  in  Hudson's  Bay,  one  is  described  as  being  of 
about  the  size  of  a  3-pounder  ;  another,  an  8-pounder, 
appears  to  have  been  of  brass  ;  and  Munk  mentions 
two  falconets  of  iron.  As  her  crew  only  numbered 
48,  she  cannot  have  carried  more  than  six  or  eight 
pieces  ;  and  her  armament,  therefore,  probably  con- 
sisted of  six  brass  8-pounders  and  two  iron  falconets. 

The  name  of  Lamprenen  {the  Lamprey)  seems 
odd  ;  but  similar  names  were  not  uncommon  at  the 
time  in  the  northern  navies,  such  as  Makrelen  {the 
Mackerel),  Hummer  en  {the  Lobster),  DenBlaa  Orm 

1  Op.  at.,  p.  220. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  CV11 

(the  Blue  Snake),  and  others.  Vessels  of  her  class 
were  chiefly  used  for  transport  and  victualling — in 
short,  as  tenders.  The  earlier  history  and  subse- 
quent fate  of  this  sloop  have  already  been  related  in 
our  account  of  the  life  of  Jens  Munk  (see  pp.  xxi 
and  xlviii). 

The  crews  numbered  at  the  outset  48  and  16,  re- 
spectively, inclusive  of  officers.  One  of  the  sailors 
committed  suicide,  and  another  died,  soon  after 
leaving  Copenhagen  ;  in  whose  stead,  three  others 
were  shipped  in  Norway,  making  a  total  of  65  when 
the  expedition  left  Europe,  of  whom  only  three 
returned.  Of  the  commander  himself,  we  have 
already  given  a  full  account.  His  lieutenant  was 
Mauritz  Stygge,  belonging  to  a  now-extinct  noble 
family,  which,  however,  never  was  of  any  particular 
note.  Being  a  nobleman,  he  is  described  by  Munk 
as  an  ''honourable  and  well-born  man."  It  appears 
that  there  was  in  the  Danish  Navy  a  Captain 
Enevold  Stygge,  who  in  1616  had  commanded 
Enhiorningen  in  the  North  Sea.  Very  possibly  he 
was  this  young  man's  father. 

The  chaplain  was  Hr.  Rasmus  Jensen,  of 
whom  nothing  further  is  known.  He  is  styled 
"fir",  a  description  now  applied  to  everybody 
in  Denmark,  like  "  Mr."  in  England  ;  but  at  that 
time  it  was  used  only  for  noblemen  and  clergy- 
men. 

There  were   two  surgeons  with  the   Expedition, 
one  on  either  vessel.   The  one  on  board  Enhiorningen- 
is  described  as  M.  Casper  Caspersen,  and  has  with 


Cviii       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

great  probability  been  identified1  with  a  certain 
Casper  Rottenburg — most  likely  of  German  extrac- 
tion— who,  on  April  25th,  161 9,  shortly  before  the 
departure  of  the  Expedition,  was  appointed  an 
army  and  navy  surgeon.  He  is  described  in  the 
Danish  as  Bardsker,  a  corruption  of  the  German 
word  Bartscheerer — that  is,  literally,  beard-cutter 
or  barber,  which  at  that  time  was  a  proper 
designation  for  surgeons.  Even  such  a  celebrated 
man  as  Ambrose  Pare  styled  himself  only  tonsor 
perpetims  to  Charles  IX  of  France.  Nowadays, 
all  surgeons  in  Denmark  must  have  a  University 
education  ;  but,  in  Munk's  time,  and  for  a  long  time 
after,  they  were,  almost  without  exception,  men  who 
had  learnt  to  perform  surgical  operations,  but  were 
otherwise  almost  destitute  of  medical  knowledge. 
Physicians  were  always  University  men  ;  but  no 
physician  or  properly-educated  medical  man  would 
condescend  to  perform  ordinary  surgical  operations 
himself.  On  board  ship,  particularly  in  time  of 
war,  surgeons  were  of  course  indispensable,  and  were 
provided,  but  no  physicians  ;  and  the  consequence 
was  that,  although  the  naval  surgeons  sometimes — 
at  a  later  period  always — were  taught  the  elements 
of  the  medical  art  in  an  empirical  manner,  the  medical 
assistance  available  on  board  ship  was  mostly  very 
inefficient.  Surgeons  were  classed  with  ordinary 
handicraftsmen,    like  tailors    and    shoemakers,  and, 


1  Jens   Munks    Navigatio    Septentrionalis,    ed.    P.    Lauridsen 
(Copenhagen,  1887),  note  35. 


MUNKS  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON^  BAY.  CIX 

like  those,  were  described  as  Mester  when  qualified 
to  carry  on  business  on  their  own  account.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  the  "Jf."  preceding  the  name  of 
Casper  Caspersen,  who  appears,  however,  to  have 
been  a  particularly  ignorant  specimen  of  his  class. 
The  surgeon  on  Lamprenen,  David  Volske  by 
name,  had  no  such  prefix,  and  was,  therefore,  no 
doubt,  an  even  inferior  person. 

From  an  entry  in  the  registers  of  the  Danish 
Chancery,1  it  appears  that  Jens  Hendrichsen,  whom 
Munk  describes  as  "  skipper",  was  the  master  of 
Lamprenen ;  but  nothing  further  is  known  of  him. 
The  same  remark  applies  to  Jan  Olluffsen,  the 
skipper  or  navigating  officer  of  Enhiomingen. 

Munk  had  four  mates  or  Styrmcends,  two  of  them 
— William  Gourdon  (or  Gordon,  as  the  name  is 
spelt  by  modern  writers),  and  John  Watson — 
being  Englishmen,  whilst  the  two  others — Hans 
Brock  and  Jan  Pettersen — were  Danes  or  Nor- 
wegians. How  these  four  mates  were  distributed 
on  the  vessels  is  nowhere  expressly  stated  ;  but,  as 
both  the  Danes  are  designated  as  second  mates, 
whilst  Munk  describes  Gordon  as  his  chief  mate, 
the  latter  was  no  doubt  chief  mate  on  board 
Enhiomingen,  and  acted  as  pilot  to  the  Expedition. 
Hans  Brock  was  probably  second  mate  of  the  same 
ship,  and  Watson  chief  mate  of  Lambrenen,  with 
Jan  Petterson  as  second. 

As  regards  the  antecedents  of  Gordon,   there  is, 

1  Sjcell.  Reg.,  xvi,  p.  429. 


CX  DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-1626. 

perhaps,  room  for  some  little  uncertainty.  A 
William  Gourdon  or  Gordon  is  mentioned  in  several 
accounts  of  Arctic  voyages  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  ;  but  there  is  no  direct  proof, 
either  that  these  statements  refer  to  one  and  the 
same  person,  or  that  any  of  them  refer  to  the  man 
who  sailed  with  Munk  as  chief  mate  in  1619.  In 
Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  we  find  an  account1  of  a 
voyage  to  Cherie  Island  in  1603,  which  is  stated  to 
be  written  by  William  Gorden,  who  acted  as  factor 
and  overseer.  Next,  we  have  an  account  in  the 
same  work2  of  a  voyage  made  to  the  Petchora  in  161 1 
for  the  Muscovy  Company,  which  account  is  stated  to 
be  "Written  by  William  Gourdon  of  Hull,  appointed 
chiefe  Pilot  for  Discouerie  to  Ob,  etc."  Purchas 
prints  two  other  accounts  of  the  same  voyage  by 
James  Logan  and  William  Parsglove,  in  which  this 
William  Gourdon  is  also  mentioned.3  It  appears 
that  he  returned  to  London  the  same  year,  while 
they  remained  on  the  Petchora  till  the  next  summer. 
Both  in  Baffin's4  and  in  Gatonbe's5  account  of 
James  Hall's  voyage  to  Greenland  in  161 2,  a  William 
Gourdon  or  Gordon  of  Hull  is  mentioned,  who,  ac- 
cording to  the  latter,  served  as  master's  mate  on  board 
the  Patience.  Again,  a  William  Gourdon  is  mentioned 

1   Op.  tit.,  vol.  iii,  p.  566.  2   Op.  tit.,  vol.  iii,  p.  530. 

8  Op.  tit.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  541-546  and  547"55°- 

4  Op.  tit.,  iii,  p.  833.     See  also  Book  1  (Expeditions  to  Green- 
land), p.  126. 

5  Churchill,  Collection  of  Voyages,  vol.  vi(i732),  pp.   252  and 
253.     See  also  Book  1,  pp.  105  and  107. 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.  CXI 

in  Baffin's  account  of  a  voyage  for  the  Muscovy 
Company  to  Spitzbergen  in  1613,1  but  only  in  one 
place,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  it  does  not  appear 
whether  Gourdon  was  of  the  same  party  as  Baffin, 
or  in  what  capacity  he  found  himself  in  that  place. 
Finally,  we  have  an  account  mPurckas  his  Pilgrimes? 
entitled  "  Later  Observations  of  William  Gourdon 
.  .  .  at  Pustozera  in  the  yeares  16 14  and  161 5",  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  author  was  in  the  service 
of  the  Muscovy  Company,  and,  after  performing  a 
long  and  arduous  journey  by  sledge  in  the  winter, 
returned  home  in  161 5,  reaching  Dort,  in  Holland, 
in  the  month  of  September  of  that  year. 

As  already  stated,  there  is  no  direct  evidence  to 
show  that  all  these  data  refer  to  the  same  man  ;  but  it 
is  undoubtedly  the  natural  inference,  and  there  is  no 
evidence  to  the  contrary.  It  is  true  that  the 
William  Gorden  who  went  to  Cherie  Island  in  1603, 
did  so  as  factor  and  overseer  ;  and  the  person  of 
that  name  who  was  at  Pustocera  in  16 14- 15  in  the 
service  of  the  Muscovy  Company  seems  to  have 
acted  in  a  similar  capacity.  But  nobody  will  doubt 
that  the  latter  was  the  same  man  who  went  to  the 
Petchora  in  161 1  in  the  service  of  that  same  com- 
pany, and  he,  we  are  told,  was  the  chief  pilot  of  the 
expedition.  Nor  would  there  be  anything  remark- 
able in  the  same  man  acting  both  as  trader  and  as 
practical  seaman — occupations  which  in  those  times 


1  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  vol.  iii,  p.  720. 

2  Op.  cit,  iii,  p.  553. 


Cxil        DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

were  often  combined.  The  above-mentioned  James 
Logan  was  evidently  a  sailor  as  well  as  a  trader. 
Moreover,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  Gourdon 
who,  with  some  others,  performed  the  above- 
mentioned  journey  by  land  in  the  winter  16 14-15, 
not  only  regularly  records,  sailor-fashion,  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind,  the  distances  travelled,  and  the 
directions  taken,  but  also  carried  nautical  instru- 
ments with  him,  and  several  times  notes  the  latitude 
of  the  places  and  the  variation  of  the  compass, 
according  to  his  own  observations.  The  question 
remains  :  Was  this  pilot  and  factor  identical 
with  Munk's  chief  mate?  In  this  respect,  we 
may  observe,  first,  that  he  is  the  only  William 
Gordon  known  at  that  time  in  any  way  qualified  for 
that  post ;  and,  secondly,  that,  in  the  warrant  by 
which  Munk's  mate  was  appointed,  the  name  is 
spelt  (no  doubt  according  to  his  own  statement) 
Gourdon,  just  as  it  is  always  spelt  by  Baffin,  and 
mostly  by  Purchas. 

The  point  just  discussed  is  of  interest  not  only 
with  regard  to  the  personal  history  of  Munk's  chief 
mate,  but  also  (and  particularly)  with  regard  to  the 
question  whether  he  can  be  supposed  to  have  had 
any  previous  knowledge  of  Hudson's  Bay.  If  he 
had  been  with  Hall  in  Greenland  in  161 2,  he 
cannot  have  taken  part  in  Button's  expedition  to 
the  Bay  in  that  year  ;  and,  if  he  had  been  to  the 
Petchora  in  161 5,  he  cannot  have  accompanied 
Bylot  and  Baffin  to  Hudson's  Bay  in  that  same 
year,    though  he    might    have    been   with   them  on 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S   BAY.  CX111 

their  famous  expedition  to  Baffin's  Bay  in  1616. 
There  is,  however,  no  evidence  at  all  of  any  William 
Gordon  having  been  with  them  in  any  capacity.  It 
may,  moreover,  be  observed  that,  as  he  served  in 
161 2  as  master's  mate,  and  was  very  disappointed  at 
not  being  made  master  after  the  death  of  Hall,1  and 
as  he  evidently  held  a  superior  position  on  the 
Petchora  in  16 14-15,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  would 
not  have  sailed  in  1 6 1 5  in  an  obscure  capacity. 
Taking  all  this  together,  it  appears  to  follow  that 
Gordon,  when  he  sailed  with  Munk  in  16 19,  cannot 
have  had  any  knowledge  at  all  of  the  western  part 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  that  most  likely  he  had 
never  even  been  in  Hudson's  Strait. 

How  Gordon  came  into  the  Danish  service  is  not 
known.  We  have,  however,  in  speaking  of  Hall's 
and  Knight's  engagements,  already  alluded  to  the 
fact  that  Christian  IV  of  Denmark  was  brother-in- 
law  to  James  I  of  England  ;  and,  as  there  were 
frequent  communications  between  the  two  Courts 
by  means  of  embassies  and  messengers,  the  King 
of  Denmark  cannot  have  lacked  means  for  obtaining 
pilots.  As  the  Muscovy  Company  enjoyed  certain 
privileges  from  him,  that  Company  may  have 
been  applied  to  ;  and  if  Gordon  was,  or  for  some 
time  had  been,  in  their  service  they  may  have 
recommended  him. 

To  judge  from  the  silence  of  English  literature 
during    the    seventeenth    century    with    regard    to 

1  See  Book  1,  Expeditions  to  Greenland,  pp.  107  and  126. 

h 


CX1V       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

Munk's  voyage,  it  can  scarcely  have  been  widely 
known  amongst  the  general  public.1  That,  how- 
ever, some  persons  were  aware,  both  that  an 
expedition  had  been  sent  and  that  an  Englishman 
served  as  pilot,  is  evident  from  the  following  passage 
in  a  letter  from  John  Chamberlain  (the  professional 
writer  of  news-letters)  to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  at 
the  Hague  :2  "  There  is  speach  here  that  the  King 
of  Denmarke  hath  discouered  the  North-West 
Passage  by  the  meane  of  an  English  pilote."  The 
letter  is  dated  London,  April  29th,  1620,  when 
Munk  had  not  yet  returned ;  and  the  rumour  had 
probably  originated  in  this  very  circumstance,  it  being 
concluded  that,  as  Munk  had  not  returned,  he  had 
probably  succeeded  in  getting  through  to  the  Pacific. 
Similar  inferences  were  drawn  when  Button  did  not 
return  in  161  2,  and  afterwards  when  James  did  not 
return  in  1631.  The  rumour  may,  of  course,  have 
come  to  England  from  the  Continent,  but  may  also 
have  come  through  the  same  quarter  from  which 
Gordon  had  been  recommended  to  Christian  IV. 

Whoever  had  acted  as  intermediary  in  the  matter, 
Gordon  had  doubtless  been  well   recommended  to 

1  It  is  particularly  worth  noticing  that,  in  Luke  Koxe's  work, 
North-  West  Fox,  there  is  no  evidence  that,  up  to  the  time  of  its 
publication  in  1635,  Foxe,  in  spite  of  his  extensive  and,  on  the 
whole,  successful  inquiry  after  the  journals,  charts,  etc.,  of  his 
predecessors,  had  even  so  much  as  heard  of  Munk's  voyage,  which 
took  place  twelve  years  before  his  own.  Nor  does  the  indefa- 
tigable Purchas  refer  in  any  way  to  Munk's  voyage,  though  it 
took  place  five  years  before  the  publication  of  his  great  work. 

2  State  Papers,  Dom.,  Jas.  I.,  vol.  cxiii,  No.  92  (Cal.  p.  140). 


munk's  expedition  to  Hudson's  bay.        cxv 

Christian  IV.,  and  had  been  engaged  by  him  on 
account  of  his  supposed  experience  and  knowledge 
of  the  Arctic  Regions  in  general,  if  not  of  the 
particular  waters  to  which  the  Expedition  was  fo 
sail.  When  Gordon  arrived  at  Copenhagen  is  not 
known;  but,  in  the  diary  of  Christian  IV.  for  1619, 
there  is  a  memorandum  of  the  King  having  ad- 
vanced "  Willem  Gordon  "  200  Dollars  on  March 
nth.1  Under  date  of  March  29th,  1619,  Gordon 
was  appointed  mate  (Styrmand)  in  the  Danish 
Navy,  to  serve  whenever  and  wherever  he  might 
be  commanded  to  go,  with  a  salary  of  50  Danish 
Rixdollars  monthly  ;  "and  [says  the  Royal  War- 
rant2], if  the  said  Villem  Gourdon  succeeds,  by  the 
help  and  guidance  of  God,  in  finding  the  Pass- 
age, which  We  most  graciously  will  command  him 
to  search  for,  We  have  graciously  granted  him  that 
he  shall  receive  a  recompense  of  two  thousand 
Rixdollars." 

Concerning  John  Watson's  antecedents,  nothing- 
whatever  is  known.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  he  would  not  have  been  engaged  if  the  Danish 
authorities  had  not  had  reason  to  believe  that  his 
services  would  be  of  particular  use  ;  and,  in  another 
place,  we  shall  adduce  reasons  for  thinking  that  he 
bad  been  with  Button  in  161 2.  If  so,  he  would 
really  know  much  more  of  Hudson's  Bay  than 
Gordon.      That  the  principal  position  was,  neverthe- 


1  Kong  Christian  den  Fjerdes  Dagboger  (Copenhagen,  1825), 
P-  5 2-  2  Sjcell.  Reg.,  xvi,  fol.  42. 


CXvi       DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    [605-162O. 

less,  given  to  the  latter,  may,  perhaps,  be  explained 
by  the  supposition  that  Watson  had  previously  only 
filled  subordinate  positions,  while  Gordon  was,  we 
have  reason  to  think,  a  man  of  considerable  experience 
and  had  filled  responsible  positions.  Very  likely, 
too,  Watson  was  inferior  to  Gordon  in  education, 

Hans  Brock  was  most  probably  the  same  who 
had  served  under  Munk  on  his  voyage  to  Nova 
Zembla  in  1610  (see  p.  xvii)  ;  but  of  Jan  Pettersen 
nothing  further  is  known. 

A  nephew  of  Jens  Munk,  Erik  by  name,  accom- 
panied the  Expedition,  but  in  what  capacity  is  not 
stated.  He  was  a  son  of  Jens  Munk's  elder  brother 
Niels,  whom  we  have  mentioned  several  times,  and 
who  had  died  in  161 7.  Probably  the  young  man 
was  destined  for  the  navy,  and  was  permitted  to 
accompany  his  uncle  as  a  volunteer. 

The  remaining  members  of  the  crews  do  not  call 
for  any  particular  observations.  Complete  lists  of 
the  crews  are  rarely,  if  ever,  met  with  in  accounts  of 
voyages,  because,  generally  speaking,  they  would  be 
devoid  of  interest.  Yet  cases  do  sometimes  occur 
where  it  would  have  been  of  interest  if  we  had  had 
means  to  ascertain  whether  a  particular  man  had 
taken  part  in  an  expedition,  even  only  as  a  common 
sailor.  We  have,  in  fact,  just  mentioned  such  a 
case  with  regard  to  John  Watson.  In  this  case, 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  extracting  from 
Munk's  narrative  an  almost  complete  list  of  the 
sailors,  because  Munk  mentions  the  names  of  nearly 
all  in  noticing  their  deaths  ;  but,   as  none  of  them 


MUNK  S  EXPEDITION  TO  HUDSON  S  BAY.         CXV11 

(except,  perhaps,  the  two  Englishmen)  had  been  in 
those  parts  before,  and  as  they  all  perished  excepting 
the  two  who  returned  with  Munk,  but  whose  names 
are  not  mentioned,  it  would  be  of  no  practical  use. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  men  are  mostly 
designated  by  their  Christian  names,  with  the 
addition  sometimes  of  their  occupation  (carpenter, 
cooper,  &c),  but  generally,  also,  of  their  father's 
name,  with  the  termination  "sen"  and,  in  many 
cases,  of  the  place  from  which  they  hailed.  Family 
names  were,  at  that  time,  rare  in  Denmark,  except 
amongst  the  higher  classes.  Two  persons  of  the 
same  name,  and  whose  fathers  also  had  the  same 
name,  were  distinguished  by  .  adding  the  name 
of  the  homestead,  village,  town,  or  (in  the  case  of 
persons  hailing  from  afar)  province  to  which  they 
belonged.  By  paying  attention  to  this,  it  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  no  foundation  at  all  for  Barrow's 
statement1  that  "  the  vessels,  it  would  seem,  were 
mostly  manned  by  English  sailors,  who  no  doubt 
had  been  employed  on  some  of  the  former  expedi- 
tions for  Arctic  discoveries  or  on  the  whale  fishery." 
In  reality,  Munk's  sailors  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
Danish  dominions.  At  least  nine  were  from 
Norway,  whilst  others  came  from  Halland,  from 
Bornholm,  from  Copenhagen,  from  the  island  of 
Als,  in  Sleswick,  and  from  elsewhere. 

Such    was    the    composition   of   the    Expedition 

1  A   Chronological  History  of  Voyages  into  the  Arctic  Regions 
(London,  1818),  p.  230. 


CXvili     DANISH  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,    1605-1620. 

which  set  out  from  Copenhagen  for  America  on 
the  9th  of  May,  1619.  We  shall  now  let  Munk 
himself  give  his  account  of  the  voyage,  to  which  we 
have  appended  a  few  notes  which  seemed  necessary. 
The  main  part  of  the  explanatory  matter,  however 
(being  much  too  bulky  to  be  conveniently  con- 
veyed in  the  form  of  foot-notes),  will  be  found  in 
the  Commentary  following  immediately  after  Munk's 
text.  This  Commentary  is  so  arranged  that  it  may 
be  read  independently  of  the  text  ;  but  readers  who 
may  wish  to  consult  the  Commentary  together  with 
the  text  will  have  no  difficulty  in  doing  so,  by  means 
of  the  references  to  the  pages  of  the  text  placed  in 
the  margin  of  the  Commentary. 

In  a  separate  concluding  chapter,  we  propose  to 
discuss  the  geographical  results  of  the  voyage. 


Note. — It  should  have  been  mentioned  on  p.  lxvi  that,  besides 
the  translation  of  La  Peyrere's  original  treatise,  which  is  noticed 
there,  the  Churchill  Collection  of  voyages  also  contains  an 
English  translation  of  the  first  German  version  of  the  Relation  du 
Groenlande,  which  the  editors  seem  to  have  mistaken  for  an 
original  work.  It  is  found  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Collection 
(1704,  p.  544-569),  and  is  entitled  An  account  of  a  most  dangerous 
voyage  performed  by  the  famous  Capt.  John  Monck  in  the  years 
i6ig  and  1620  ....  Translated  from  the  High  Dutch  original, 
printed  at  Frankfort  upon  the  Maine,  1650.  The  map  and  the 
illustrations  are  reproduced.  There  are  consequently  two  versions 
of  La  Peyrere's  treatise  in  the  Churchill  Collection,  with  maps  and 
illustrations,  both  first  published  in  1704.  They  are  both  found 
in  all  the  editions. 


NAVIGATIO     SEPTENTRIONALIS: 

THAT   IS,    A 

RELATION 

OR     DESCRIPTION      OF     A     VOYAGE 

In  Search  of  the  North- West  Passage,  now  called 

NOVA  DANIA,  through  Fretum  Christian  ; 

WHICH   VOYAGE 

OUR   MOST    GRACIOUS    MAJESTY    KING 

CHRISTIAN  THE  FOURTH  WAS  GRACIOUSLY  PLEASED 
TO  COMMAND  IN  THE  YEAR  1619  ; 

And,  in  order  to  accomplish  it,  sent  out  his  Majesty's  Sea 

Captain,  lens  Munk,  together  with  a  Crew  numbering  in  all 

64  Persons,  in  two  of  His  Majesty's  ships,  E?ihior7ri?igen 

and  the  Sloop  Lamftreneii ; 

WHICH   SAME 

EXPEDITION  WAS,  SO  FAR  AS  WAS  POSSIBLE, 

Carried  out  with   most  implicit   obedience    to   the  Instructions 

Graciously  given ;  but  the  Commander,  after  incurring  great  Peril, 

returned  back  to  Norway  with  the  Sloop  and  only  two  others  ; 

COMPRISING  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  ALL  THE  CIRCUM- 

stances,  Courses,  Directions,  and  Occurrences,  concerning  that 

Sea  and  the  Particulars  of  that  Voyage ; 

BY  THE   SAID 

IENS    MUNCK 

Diligently  observed  on  the  Journey  there  and  back,  and 

published  by  His  said  Royal  Majesty's  Most 

Gracious  Command. 

ECCLUS.  43. 

Navigantes  mare,  enarrant  ejus  pericula. 

They  that  sail  on  the  sea  tell  of  the  Dangers  thereof;  and,  when  we  hear  it 
with  our  ears,  we  marvel  thereat,  etc. 

Printed  in  Copenhagen  by  Henrich  Waldkirch. 

ANNO    M.  DC.  XXIIII. 

1 


Most  Mighty,  Highborn  Prince 
and  Lord,  Sire, 

CHRISTIAN    THE   FOURTH, 

King  of  Denmark,   Norway,  the  Vends,   and  the 

Goths,    Duke   of  Sleswick,   Holstein,    Stormarn,    and 

Dithmarschen,  Count  of  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst,  etc., 

My  most  gracious  Lord  and  King  : 

Grace,  Prosperity  and  Peace  from  God  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord. 

ost  Gracious  Lord  and  King. 
Inasmuch  as  Your  Royal  Ma- 
jesty, in  the  year  of  1619,  now 
past,  after  gracious  considera- 
tion, commanded  that  I  should 
sail  forth  with  two  of  Your 
Majesty's  ships,  Enhiorningen 
and  the  sloop  Lamprenen,  in 
order  to  search  for  the  North-West  Passage,  and, 
with  regard  thereto,  graciously  gave  me  instructions, 
which,  by  the  help  and  assistance  of  God,  I  have 
followed,  in  most  submissive  obedience,  as  closely 
as  human  energy  and  power,  with  the  utmost 
diligence,  could  on  that  sea  and  in  that  difficult 
navigation.  And,  although,  after  having  returned 
from  that  voyage,  I  at  once  presented  myself  before 
Your  Royal  Majesty,  in  order  most  humbly  to 
report  on  the  events  of  the  said  journey,  I  had, 
nevertheless,  the  intention  afterwards  to  put  into 
writing  a  further  description  of  the  said  journey, 
with  all  its  circumstances,  for  publication,  in  order 
that  Your  Royal  Majesty  might  be  enabled 
graciously  to  hear  a  much  clearer  account  thereof  ; 
and  this  I  should  long  ago  have  humbly  caused 
to  be  submitted  to  Your  Majesty,  but  I  have 
been   occupied   in    consequence    of  other   pressing 

l2 


4  DEDICATION. 

commands  of  Your   Majesty  and   in  journeys,    to 
which  I  am  most  humbly  in  duty   bound   towards 
Your    Royal    Majesty ;    so    that    I    have   not    been 
able    before    now  to    publish   this   written   account. 
I  have  now,  therefore,  revised   and  looked   through 
my  observations   concerning  the  said   voyage,    the 
navigation,     the    sounds,     known     and     unknown 
countries,  harbours,  straits,  courses  and   directions, 
with  all  the  circumstances,  and  whatever  happened 
upon    it,    from    the    beginning    to    the    last    event, 
as  far  as  this   said   passage   could  be  searched  for 
with  the  most  careful  possible  examination  and  in- 
vestigation, which   I   have  truthfully  written  down 
day  by  day,  according  to  the  changes  of  the  naviga- 
tion and  the  incidents  of  the  voyage  ;   and   I   have 
thereupon  described  it  all  in  this  small  treatise,  in 
the  most  humble  hope    that   Your  Royal  Majesty 
will  graciously  approve  of  it,  and  that  every  right- 
minded  man  who  obtains  knowledge  of  the  circum- 
stances of  this  endeavour  will  rightly  consider  and 
judge,  that  it  has  been  done  to  the  honour  of  Your 
Majesty's   name   and    government,    and    that  Your 
Majesty  will  graciously  understand  the  good  of  the 
kingdom,  and  choose  as  far  as  possible  that  which 
now  and  ever  can  serve  the  welfare  of  the  subjects. 
I,   at   the  same  time,  most  humbly  pray  that  Your 
Royal  Majesty  will  graciously  accept  both  me  and 
this    small    work    of   mine    into    Your    favour    and 
gracious  protection,  and   always  be   to   me   a   kind 
Lord  and  gracious  King  ;  and  may  God  Almighty 
preserve  Your  Royal  Majesty  in  lasting  health  and 
prosperous  government. 

Given    at    Copenhagen,  the    ist    of   November, 
1624. 

Your  Royal  Majesty's 

Humble  and  dutiful  servant, 

IENS  MUNCK. 


RELATION 

Or  Description  of  a  Voyage  and  Expedition  in  search 

of  the  North-West  Passage,  now  called  NOVA  DANIA, 

through  FRETUM  CHRISTIAN, 

Wherein  are  Described  all  the  Circumstances  of  that 

Expedition,  the  Navigation,  Straits,  known  and  unknown 

Countries,   Harbours,   Sounds,  Courses  and  Directions, 

which  occurred  upon  that  Voyage  and  all  that  happened 

worth  knowing,  from  the  Beginning 

to  the  End. 

In  the  Name  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 

AMEN. 


NNO  DOMINI,  1619:  His  Royal 
Majesty  our  most  gracious  Master's 
ship  Enhiorningm  and  the  sloop 
Lamprenen  having,  according  to  His 
said  Majesty's  gracious  orders,  been 
properly  made  ready,  provided,  and 
prepared  with  crew,  equipment,  provisions,  ammunition  and 
other  necessaries  for  the  voyage  and  expedition  to  search 
for  the  North-West  Passage  :  I,  lens  Munck,  in  the  name  of 
God,  sailed  with  the  said  two  ships,  from  Copenhagen  into 


6  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

the  Sound,  on  the  9th  of  May  ;  and  there  were  then  on 
the  ship  Enhiorningen  forty-eight,  and,  on  the  sloop 
Lamprenen,  sixteen  persons. 

I  waited  for  wind  in  the  Sound  until  the  16th  of  May, 
which  was  Whitsunday.     I  then  sailed  out  of  the  Sound. 

On  the  1 8th  of  May,  it  happened,  early  in  the  morning, 
while  we  were  sailing  along,  that  one  of  my  men,  as  he  was 
walking  on  the  deck,  suddenly  jumped  overboard  a  distance 
of  quite  two  fathoms  and  plunged  his  head  under  water, 
without,  however,  as  it  appeared,  sinking  so  quickly  as  he 
desired.  But,  as  it  blew  hard,  no  one  could  save  him, 
which  I  should  much  have  wished.  He,  therefore,  went 
down  and  was  lost. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  when  off  Lister,1  the  sloop  sprang 
a  leak,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  run  into  Karmsund,2  in 
order  there  to  discover  the  leak  in  that  vessel ;  and,  on 
examination,  I  found  that  three  bolt-holes  had  been  left 
open  by  the  carpenters,  and  afterwards  filled  with  pitch  ; 
which  defect  I  thereupon  caused  to  be  remedied  without 
delay,  in  order  to  be  able  to  continue  the  voyage.  While 
I  stayed  there  at  Karmsund,  one  of  my  two  coopers  died  ; 
wherefore  I  caused  three  young  men  to  be  engaged  at 
Skudenes,3  in  the  place  of  those  who  had  died,  so  as  to 
maintain  my  full  complement  of  men. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  I  sailed  from  Karmsund,  further  to 
continue  my  voyage,  and  shaped  our  course  West-North- 
West  for  Heth  Land,4  which  we  accordingly  passed  on  the 
2nd  of  June. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  in  the  morning,  steering  to  the 


1  An  island  situated  close  to,  and  west  of,  the  southern  extremity  of 
Norway. 

2  A  sound  between  the  Island  of  Karmo  and  the  main-land,  branching 
off  from  the  north  side  of  Bukken  (or  Stavanger)  Fjord. 

3  The  principal  village  on  Karmo. 

4  Old  Danish  for  Shetland. 


OUTWARD   VOYAGE.  7 

West,  we  sailed  round  the  East  end  of  Ferroe,  which  is 
called  Syderoe,1  about  four  miles2  to  the  West  of  it,3 
and  then  shaped  our  course  West  and  West-by-North, 
until  we  came  alongside  Greenland. 

On  the  nth  of  June,  I  ascertained  what  quantity  of 
provisions  had  been  consumed,  and  gave  definite  orders  as 
to  how  the  stores  should  be  served  out  for  consumption — 
viz.,  in  this  wise  :  the  steward's  book  showing  the  pro- 
visions received  by  him  was,  according  to  the  tenour  of 
my  instructions,  always  to  be  kept  in  the  cabin  ;  and, 
whenever  he  opened  a  barrel  of  goods,  he  was  to  enter  it 
in  the  book,  and,  in  his  weekly  return,  to  state  how 
long  it  had  lasted,  with  indication  of  the  day  and  hour 
when  it  had  been  finished,  as  well  as  of  the  weight  or 
measure,  according  to  the  kind  of  goods,  which  all  was 
to  be  in  keeping  with  the  orders  and  rules  he  would  receive 
with  regard  to  the  board,  befitting  the  circumstances  of  the 
time.  In  this  way,  I  secured  always  an  accurate  account 
of  what  had  been  consumed  and  of  what  still  remained  in 
store  of  all  kinds  of  Provisions  and  Drinks. 

Item  :  we  sailed  on  thus,  in  a  westerly  direction,  until  the 
20th  of  June,  when  we  found  ourselves  some  miles  to  the 
North  of  the  southern  promontory  of  Greenland,  in  6 1 
degrees  25  minutes,  though  about  15  or  16  miles  from  land, 
where  we  encountered  much  ice,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to 
turn  Eastwards  again,  towards  the  sea.  Finally,  we  kept 
sailing  to  and  fro,  with  gales  and  bad  weather,  until  the  30th 
of  June,  when  we  sighted  the  southern  Cape  of  Greenland, 
which  the  English  call  Cape  Farwell,  and  which  is  situated 
in  60  degrees  30  minutes.  Doubtless,  whoever  named 
that  place  thus,  did  not  intend  to  return   thither.      The 

1  The  southernmost  island  of  the  Faero  group. 

2  Ancient  Danish  sea-miles,  equal  to  4*6807  English  miles.  About 
fifteen,  therefore,  go  to  a  degree. 

3  For  explanation  of  this  obscure  passage,  see  the  Commentary. 


S  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

southern  promontory  of  Greenland  is  a  high  land,  very 
rugged  and  uneven,  with  high  jagged  mountains  ;  but  it 
was  not  possible  to  obtain  a  true  drawing  or  exact  know- 
ledge of  those  high  mountains  on  account  of  the  great 
quantity  of  ice  which  covers  them  and  renders  the  said 
countries  quite  unrecognizable.  We  had  then  arrived  at 
Fretum  Davis ;  and,  as  regards  the  entrance  to  the  said 
Fretum  Davis,  much  ice  was  encountered  there,  and  one 
must  be  particularly  attentive  here,  carefully  to  avoid  the 
ice.  The  reason  is  that,  on  the  eastern  side,  Greenland 
trends  mostly  to  the  North-East-half-East,  so  that  all  the 
ice  which  comes  from  the  East  is  turned  into  a  South- 
westerly direction  ;  similarly,  in  Fretum  Davis,  Greenland 
trends  mostly  North-West-half-North,  as  also,  upon  the 
whole,  does  Fretum  Davis,  out  of  which  unspeakably  much 
ice  comes  forth,  all  of  which  meets  off  Cape  Farewell,  which 
projects  as  a  triangle  ;  for  on  both  sides  of  the  country  there 
is  floating  an  abundance  of  ice,  which  emerges  from  the 
numerous  large  fjords  which  exist  in  those  countries. 

Item :  if  one  shapes  one's  course  too  much  to  the  west, 
towards  the  American  side,  much  ice  is  likewise  en- 
countered, and  one  may  then  easily  be  driven  out  of  one's 
course,  because  the  current  with  the  ice  sets  principally  to 
the  South-West.  Likewise,  whoever  intends  to  sail  into 
Fretum  Davis  or  Regis  must  keep  to  6oJ  degrees  from 
Cape  Farewell ;  and,  if  it  is  possible  to  have  Cape  Farewell 
in  sight,  then  he  may  choose  his  course  as  he  thinks  best 
into  that  said  water,  being  particularly  careful  in  calcu- 
lating and  noting  exactly  what  variation  there  is,  otherwise 
he  will  steer  a  wrong  course  :  and  this  he  must  observe  and 
pay  great  attention  to,  before  he  proceeds  beyond  56 
degrees  with  a  westerly  course.1 

Now,  to  resume  the  account  of  my  course  and  the  con- 

1  For  explanation  of  this  passage,  see  the  Commentary. 


OUTWARD  VOYAGE.  9 

tinuation  of  my  journey :  When  I  had  got  free  of  the  ice 
in  60  degrees  and  a  half,  the  longitude  of  Cape  Farewell, 
I  steered  my  course  West  by  North,  according  to  a  true 
course,  two  points  allowed  for  the  variation  ;  on  which  track 
we,  at  times,  encountered  much  ice  ;  being,  however,  then 
in  open  sea,  we  were  able  in  a  measure  to  avoid  it.  A 
portion  consisted  of  large  masses,  attaining  to  near  40 
fathoms  above  the  water,  which,  to  those  who  have  not  seen 
them,  may  perhaps  appear  incredible,  but  which,  neverthe- 
less, is  according  to  truth. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  we  sighted  the  land  on  the  American 
side,  but  could  not  reach  the  shore  for  the  quantity  of  ice. 
That  same  midday,  we  were  in  62J  Degrees  latitude1 ; 
and  we  then  sailed  to  and  fro  outside  the  ice  and  could 
not  effect  anything. 

On  the  9th  of  July,  in  the  night,  there  was  such  a  fog 
and  great  cold  that  icicles  were  hanging  from  the  rigging 
one  quarter  long,2  so  that  none  of  the  men  could  stand 
the  cold.  On  the  same  day,  however,  before  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  the  sun  was  shining  in  the  same  place  so 
hotly  that  the  men  threw  off  their  overcoats,  and  some  of 
them  their  jackets  as  well.  Then  I  stood  in  amongst  the 
ice,  into  a  great  bay,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  pilots, 
according  to  the  latitude  we  were  in,  should  have  been  the 
proper  entrance  to  Lomblis,  or  Hotson,  Strait,  but  which, 
after  long  investigation,  we  found  not  to  be  the  right  en- 
trance. We  found  there  much  ice,  which  comes  out  of 
three  large  fjords  ;  for  which  reason  we  have  named  the 
said  places  Iisefiorde^  as  they  may  properly  be  called.3 
It   is   situated    in   the   latitude   last    mentioned,   viz.  62J 


1  The  land  seen  was  probably  Lock's  Land  (see  the  Commentary). 

2  That  is,  a  quarter  of  a  Danish  alert  (=  2*059  feet,  English  measure) 
A  "  quarter  "  would,  therefore,  be  a  trifle  over  6  inches. 

3  That  is,  "  Ice  Fjords  ;',  together  forming,  no  doubt,  Frobisher's 
Strait  or  Bay  ;  by  Davis  called  Lumley's  Inlet. 


10  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

degrees,  and  extends  as  far  as  Munckenes  trending  South- 
South-East-half-South  and  North-North-West-half-North. 
We  shaped  our  course  southerly  along  the  coast,  which  we 
found  to  consist  everywhere  of  broken  land  and  high  rocks, 
until  we  came  to  Munckenes,  as  it  is  now  called,  which 
forms  the  real  North  side  of  the  entrance  into  Hotson 
or  Lomblis  Strait,  which  is  now  called  Fretum  Christian} 

On  the  nth  of  July,  we  had  beautiful  clear  weather 
with  sunshine,  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  though  there 
was  much  ice  ;  and  we  then  obtained  the  true  latitude 
in  which  Munckenes  is  situated :  viz.  61  degrees  20 
minutes  ;  and  that  island  which,  in  my  Instructions,  is 
stated — as  a  guide  for  finding  the  entrance — to  be  situated 
at  the  said  entrance,  in  62!  degrees,  we  found  in  60  degrees 
40  minutes.2  In  this  respect,  however,  there  may  possibly 
be  an  error,  because  we  could  not  come  sufficiently  near 
to  the  said  island  on  account  of  the  ice.  This  is  here 
particularly  to  be  noted  :  that  whosoever  happens  hereafter 
to  navigate  the  said  Fretum  Christian,  or  Hotson,  should 
always  shape  his  course  so  that  he  does  not  get  below 
6\\  degrees,  in  order  that  he  may  not  be  drawn  from  his 
course  by  the  powerful  current  which  sets  the  hardest 
towards  the  South,  or  by  the  strong  ebb  which  comes  from 
Freto  Christian;  because,  in  that  same  Freto,  the  water 
rises  and  falls,  with  an  ordinary  tide,  five  fathoms  or  more,  the 
water  being,  at  the  same  time,  very  deep ;  according  to 
which  anyone  intending  to  sail  that  way  may  know  how 
to  guard  himself.  Concerning  our  entering  into,  and 
sailing  through,  the  length  of  the  said  water,  Fretum 
Christian,  and  what  happened  there,  what  course  we 
steered,  what  ice  we  found,  what  occurred  in  the  channel, 

1  Munkenes  is,  doubtless,  the  southern  extremity  of  Resolution 
Island,  probably  Frobisher's  Hatton's  Headland.  The  question  of 
Munk's  names  for  Hudson's  Strait  is  fully  discussed  in  the  Com- 
mentary. 2  This  would  be  one  of  the  Button  Islands. 


OUTWARD   VOYAGE.  II 

as  well  as  in  divers  places  on  shore — all  this  took  place 
ut  sequitur. 

On  the  1 2th  of  July,  I  sent  my  lieutenant1  with  some  of 
the  crew  on  shore  at  Munckenes,  in  order  to  fetch  water  and 
to  ascertain  what  was  to  be  found  there,  because  it  seemed 
a  likely  place  for  finding  harbours  and  for  obtaining  water. 
In  the  evening,  they  returned  with  water,  and  reported  that 
there  were  harbours  but  no  anchorage  ;  nor  could  we  lie 
there  in  safety  from  ice.  We  were,  therefore,  obliged  to 
choose  the  better  of  two  bad  alternatives,  because  nowhere 
in  the  channel  could  we  see  open  water.  Half  a  mile  from 
Munckenesy  I  caused  the  lead  to  be  thrown,  and  reached 
the  bottom  at  1 50  fathoms.  On  the  same  day,  I  shot  two 
or  three  birds  with  a  gun  ;  but,  at  the  last  discharge,  the 
same  gun  burst  into  pieces,  and  took  the  brim  clean  off  the 
front  of  my  hat. 

On  the  13th  of  July,  towards  evening,  we  were  in  the 
greatest  distress  and  danger,  and  did  not  know  what 
counsel  to  follow,  because  we  could  not  advance  any 
further  by  tacking,  the  ice  pressing  us  hard  on  all 
sides.  Being,  then,  in  such  a  perilous  situation,  all  the 
officers  considered  it  most  advisable  to  take  in  all  the  sails 
and  fasten  the  sloop  Lamprenen  to  the  ship  Enhiorningen ; 
which,  accordingly,  was  done.  We  then  commended  all 
into  the  hand  of  God  ;  and,  trusting  to  God's  merciful 
assistance,  we  drifted  along  and  into  the  ice  again.  This 
incident  of  the  attack  of  the  ice  and  the  distress  of  the 
ships  in  the  ice  are  shown  on  the  plate  accompanying 
this  treatise.2 

While  we  thus  drifted  forwards  and  backwards  in  the 
ice,   in   great   danger   of   our   lives,   the   ice   displaced   a 


1  Mauritz  Stygge  (see  the  Introduction). 

2  This  incident   is   represented  farthest   to  the   right   on  the   first 
woodcut,  facing  page  14. 


12  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

large  knee  in  the  ship,  which  was  situated  under  the  peg  ot 
the  head  of  the  ship,  and  fastened  with  six  large  iron  bolts; 
wherefore  I  set  all  my  carpenters  to  work  to  set  that  knee 
straight  again.  But  it  was  too  big  for  them,  so  that  they 
could  do  nothing  with  it  in  that  place.  I  therefore  had  the 
ship  swung  round  and  turned,  so  that  the  side  to  which  the 
knee  had  come  into  a  crooked  position  drifted  against  the 
ice,  and  then  ordered  the  rudder  to  be  worked  so  as  to  turn 
against  the  ice  in  order  that  the  knee  in  a  measure  might 
right  itself  again,  which  also  was  effected  as  perfectly  as  if 
20  carpenters  had  been  engaged  in  refitting  it.  After- 
wards, the  carpenters  adjusted  the  bolts  which  had  become 
bent. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  in  the  morning  at  daybreak,  we  got 
clear  of  the  ice  again,  and  then  sailed  on  through  the 
Strait,  along  the  northern  coast,  tacking,  from  time  to 
time,  under  the  high  coast  to  leeward,  which  was  the 
northern  coast,  as  aforesaid.  Later  in  the  day,  the  wind 
became  more  favourable  to  us,  and  we  then  sailed  North- 
West,  with  small  sails,  between  the  ice  and  the  land.  In 
several  places  along  the  coast,  there  seemed  to  be  good 
harbours  ;  but  at  that  time  they  were  all  full  of  ice  ;  and, 
as  the  ice  drifted  with  great  force  around  us  on  all  sides,  I 
did  not  dare  to  send  my  boat  away  in  order  to  ascertain 
whether  a  convenient  harbour  might  be  found  anywhere. 
Towards  the  evening,  we  came  to  some  small  islands, 
which  stretched  away  from  the  mainland  in  a  more  westerly 
direction.1  Here  we  again  encountered  much  ice,  and 
stayed  outside  these  islands  all  night,  and  until  the  17th 
of  July,  without  being  able  to  effect  any  thing  to  our 
advantage.  At  last,  we  thought  good  to  run  into  a  harbour 
which  we  then  found. 


1  Probably  some  nameless   islets  which  are  shown  on  the  charts 
between  the  Lower  and  the  Middle  Savage  Islands. 


OUTWARD  VOYAGE.  1 3 

On  the  17th  of  July,  I  ordered  the  sloop  to  sail  before  us 
to  find  where  we  could  anchor,  and  followed  afterwards 
with  the  ship.  We  then  found  a  good  harbour,  where  we 
cast  anchor  in  the  name  of  God.  On  the  following  day,  I 
sent  men  out  with  orders  to  search  everywhere  diligently 
whether  any  people  were  to  be  found  on  the  land,  or 
whether  there  were  any  certain  indications  of  people 
having  been  there.  Towards  midday,  they  returned  with- 
out having  noticed  any  people.  They  had,  however,  found 
many  places  where  people  had  been,  though  not  recently. 

On  the  1 8th  of  July,1  whilst  lying  hidden  with  the 
ship  and  the  sloop  behind  an  islet,  we  observed  that  there 
were  people  on  the  southern  side  of  the  harbour  ;  wherefore, 
I  at  once  had  my  boat  manned,  and  went  myself  thither  in 
it.  When  the  natives  who  were  there  saw  that  I  was 
coming  on  shore  to  them,  they  remained  standing,  having 
laid  down  behind  some  stones  their  arms  and  what  other 
implements  they  had  by  them.  When,  now,  I  approached 
them,  they  returned  whatever  salutation  I  offered  them  in 
the  same  manner ;  but  they  were  careful  to  keep  between 
me  and  the  place  where  their  arms  were  laid.  I  also 
observed  this  place  carefully,  and,  going  there,  took  up 
their  arms  and  implements  in  my  hand  and  examined 
them  ;  upon  which,  they  at  once  made  me  understand  that 
they  would  rather  lose  all  their  garments,  and  go  naked  than 
lose  their  arms  and  implements  ;  and  they  pointed  to  their 
mouths,  thereby  signifying  that  it  was  by  means  of  their 
arms  and  implements  that  they  obtained  their  food.  When 
I  again  laid  down  their  arms  and  implements,  they  clapped 
their  hands,  looked  up  to  heaven,  and  showed  themselves 
very  merry  and  joyful.  Thereupon,  I  presented  them  with 
knives  and  all  sorts  of  iron  goods.     Amongst  other  things, 


1  The  apparent  confusion   in   the  dates  here  is   discussed   in   the 
Commentary. 


14  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

I  gave  one  of  them  a  looking  glass,  but  he  did  not  know 
what  it  was ;  wherefore,  I  took  it  from  him  and  held  it 
before  his  face,  so  that  he  could  see  himself.  When  he  did 
so,  he  quickly  took  the  looking  glass  from  me  and  put  it 
into  his  bosom.  After  this,  they,  in  like  manner,  gave  me 
presents  of  what  they  had :  viz.  different  kinds  of  birds 
and  seal-flesh.  One  of  my  men,  who  had  very  swarthy 
complexion,  and  black  hair,  they  all  embraced,  no  doubt 
thinking  that  he  was  one  of  their  nation  and  countrymen. 
The  appearance  of  this  people,  as  well  as  of  their  arms 
and  implements,  is  represented  on  the  accompanying 
plate.1  -£ 

ON  the  same  day,  towards  evening,  I  set  sail  again  ;  and, 
on  the  19th  of  July,  I  was  again  in  front  of  the  ice,  and 
for  some  time  kept  beating  to  and  fro.  However,  I  had  no 
hope  of  getting  through  the  ice  at  that  time,  and  therefore 
returned  to  the  harbour  where  I  had  had  intercourse  with  the 
natives,  intending  and  hoping  to  become  further  acquainted 
with  them.  But  it  was  altogether  in  vain  ;  for,  though 
I  remained  lying  there  until  the  22nd  of  July,  none  of  the 
natives  came  to  me,  although  I  had  before  presented  them 
with  various  gifts  ;  nor  did  they  return  to  fetch  their 
fishing  gear  as  long  as  I  continued  lying  there ;  from 
which  it  is  to  be  concluded  that  they  are,  doubtless,  subject 
to  some  authority  which  must  have  forbidden  them  to 
come  to  us  again.  The  while  I  now  remained  in  that 
harbour,  hoping  that  the  ice  during  that  time  would  drift 
away,  I  ordered  my  crew  to  fetch  water  and  wash  their 
clothes.  Some  of  them,  I  sent  inland  to  shoot  reindeer, 
which  in  that  place  were  found  in  great  numbers. 

On  the  22nd  of  July,  towards  evening,  finding  that  none 


1  The  interview  with  the  natives  is  represented  in   the   left-hand 
upper  corner  of  the  annexed  woodcut. 


OUTWARD   VOYAGE.  I  5 

of  the  natives  would  come  to  me,  I  made  ready  to  sail 
from  there,  and  caused  His  Royal  Majesty's  Arms  and 
Name,  Christianus  Quartus,  to  be  set  up  there ;  and  I 
named  the  said  harbour  Rin  Sund,  because  in  that 
place  we  shot  some  reindeer.1  Wherever  we  found  the 
fishing  nets  of  the  natives  lying,  we  deposited  near  them 
various  kinds  of  our  goods,  such  as  knives  and  all  sorts  of 
iron  tools,  after  which  we  set  sail.  The  same  harbour  is  a 
very  good  one,  because  one  may  lie  there  in  safety  from 
any  wind  whatever. 

On  the  23rd  of  July,  in  the  morning  early,  when  it 
became  day,  we  found  ourselves  entirely  surrounded  by 
ice  on  all  sides,  so  that  we  could  not  get  away  from  it 
on  either  bow  or  in  any  direction.  We,  therefore, 
made  Lamprenen  fast  to  Enhiorningen,  both  ahead  and 
astern,  shot  down  the  topmasts,  as  a  violent  gale  was 
commencing,  and  then  drifted  whither  the  wind  or  the 
ice  might  carry  us.  We  were  at  that  time  unable  to  see 
open  water  anywhere.  In  the  night  next  following,  the 
ice  pressed  on  us  so  hard,  and  we  were  so  firmly  fixed 
in  the  ice,  particularly  to  leeward,  that  we  could  not 
give  way  on  either  side,  and  the  ice  crushed  four  anchors 
to  pieces  on  the  bow  of  the  sloop  Lamprenen.  At 
the  same  time,  the  ice  forced  itself  underneath  the  keel  of 
Lamprenen,  so  that  one  might  pass  one's  hand  along  the 
keel  from  stem  to  stern,  as  the  plate  shows.2 

The  24th  of  July,  we  remained  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  ice 
that  the  vessels  could  drift  nowhere,  either  forwards  or 
backwards,  because   the  ice  was  lying  firm  between  the 

1  Probably  a  sound  between  the  main-land  and  some  islets,  near 
the  shore,  not  far  East  of  the  place  named  Jackman's  Sound,  on  the 
Admiralty  Chart.  The  shooting  of  a  reindeer  is  represented  in  the 
lower  left-hand  portion  of  the  woodcut,  facing  page  14. 

2  There  is  no  illustration  of  this  incident  on  either  of  the  wood- 
cuts. 


1 6  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

shore  and  us  ;  and  the  ice  which  came  from  the  sea  pressed 
us  very  hard,  because  a  violent  gale  was  blowing  from  the 
South-East,  straight  in-shore. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  we  were  likewise  hardly  pressed  by 
the  ice  ;  nor  could  we  discover  open  water  anywhere.  On 
this  occasion,  I  nearly  lost  in  the  ice  two  men  who  were 
ordered  to  fetch  back  a  grapnel,  which  had  been  thrown 
on  to  a  large  mass  of  ice  in  order  to  enable  us  thereby,  to 
some  extent,  to  turn  the  ship,  so  that  she  might  not  get 
too  much  speed,  as  there  was  a  very  strong  current.  On 
the  same  day,  the  rudder-head1  on  the  ship  Enhiorningen 
was  broken  to  pieces.  Item:  on  the  night  next  following, 
the  ice  and  the  current  carried  us  in  between  the  main  land 
and  some  islets,2  in  such  wise  that  ten  pilots  who  had 
year  by  year  navigated  this  water  could  not  have  steered 
the  ship  better  through  the  said  islets  than  the  ice  and  the 
current  carried  and  drifted  her  without  injury. 

On  the  26th  of  July,  we  found  ourselves  entirely  hemmed 
in  by  ice  on  all  sides,  so  that  we  could  nowhere  manage  to 
get  an  anchor  in  the  ground,  nor  could  we  get  any  hawser 
on  shore.  The  ship,  however,  remained  in  the  same  place 
all  day,  drifting  neither  outwards  nor  inwards,  so  that  we 
were  now  in  the  greatest  distress  and  danger.  We  did  not 
know  of  any  measures  that  we  could  take,  but  commended 
the  whole  matter  into  the  hand  of  God,  and  prayed  devoutly 
to  Him  for  help  and  guidance.  On  the  same  day,  we 
all  gave  something  for  the  poor,  each  according  to  his 
means. 


1  This  term  is  to  be  understood  as  used,  not  of  the  real  rudder-head, 
but  of  the  casing  enclosing  it,  which  used  to  be  found  in  the  officer's 
cabin  in  old-fashioned  men-of-war,  and  which  also  was  called  the 
rudder-head.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  now  obsolete  term 
Roerlade,  used  by  Munk. 

2  These  islets  (probably  nameless  rocks  close  to  the  shore)  cannot 
be  identified. 


OUTWARD   VOYAGE.  1 7 

On  the  27th  of  July,  we  drifted  amongst  some  islets,1 
and,  as  much  as  we  drifted  in  shore  with  one  tide,  we 
drifted  back  again  with  another.  So  much  ice  was  at  the 
same  time  floating  round  us  that  it  was  impossible  any- 
where to  get  on  shore,  even  if  one  could  have  gained  the 
whole  world  thereby. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  we  succeeded,  by  dint  of  much 
work  and  trouble,  in  entering  a  small  bay  between  two 
islets,  where  we  at  once  let  go  three  anchors  into  the 
ground  and  carried  two  hawsers  on  shore.  At  the  lowest 
ebb,  we  shortened  our  distance  so  much  that  we  had 
scarcely  water  under  the  keel  ;  but,  when  the  flood  re- 
turned, we  were  so  much  shaken  and  pressed  by  the  ice 
that  we  had  much  more  work  close  to  land  than  we  had 
had  at  sea  amongst  the  ice.  A  large  mass  of  ice,  which 
was  standing  aground  in  22  fathoms,  split  into  two  ;  and 
this  ice  caused  such  big  waves  and  heavy  rolling  that  the 
sloop  Lamprenen,  which  was  fastened  to  the  side  of 
EnJiiomingen,  had  nearly  rolled  aground,  if  we  had  not 
quickly  got  her  clear  of  Enhiorningen.  An  anchor  also 
was  dashed  to  pieces  against  the  bow  of  EnJiidrningen 
before  the  rope  by  which  she  was  fastened  could  be 
cut. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  we  had  plenty  to  do  with  the  ice, 
which  on  all  sides  pressed  against  us,  while  we  were  lying 
in  a  little  bay  amongst  some  islets. 

On  the  30th  of  July,  we  were  likewise  in  great  distress 
caused  by  the  ice,  and  had  much  troublesome  work  in 
order  to  keep  the  ice  from  the  ships,  as  before  mentioned. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  we  were  carried  inwards  by  the 
flood  tide  at  its  highest,  over  some  rocks  which,  at  the 
lowest   ebb,  were   left   dry,   something  like    four  fathoms 

1  We  have  no  means  of  identifying  the  islets  mentioned  here  and 
on  the  following  day.  Probably  they  were  nameless  rocks  near  the 
coast  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Icy  Cove. 

2 


1 8  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

above  water1  ;  and  thus  we  came  into  a  small  bay,  where 
we  were  somewhat  more  secure  against  the  ice  than  before. 
The  men  were  now  so  entirely  worn  out  that  they  could 
not  any  longer  have  sustained  the  hard  work  entailed  by 
pushing  the  great  quantity  of  ice  from  the  ship,  and  by  the 
incessant  veering  and  hauling. 

August  the  ist.  When  the  crew  had  now  rested  some- 
what,  and  we  had  obtained  a  little  more  quiet,  a  fourth  part 
of  the  men  went  on  shore  together  to  try  whether  there 
was  any  game  that  we  could  shoot,  in  order  to  get  fresh 
meat ;  but,  though  we  saw  some  reindeer,  they  were  so 
very  shy  that  we  could  not  get  near  them.  If  I  had  had 
two  or  three  good  dogs,  they  might  have  been  of  ad- 
vantage to  us  ;  however,  in  time,  we  got  some  hares  in 
that  place.  As  for  the  men  who  meanwhile  remained 
with  the  ships,  they  were  not  idle  at  any  time,  but  were 
continually  at  work  in  stopping  and  keeping  off  the  ice, 
in  order  that  the  ships  might  be  preserved  without  damage. 

On  the  5th  of  August,  the  ice  commenced  to  thin  some- 
what and  to  drift  away  ;  wherefore,  I  had  the  hold  trimmed 
and  more  ballast  put  in.  I  ordered  the  beer  to  be  put  into 
fresh  casks,  and  water  to  be  fetched.  Everything  was 
made  ready,  and  I  gave  new  orders  with  regard  to  the 
navigation  :  as  to  in  what  places  and  latitudes  we  might 
find  each  other  again  if,  on  account  of  fog,  we  should 
become  separated,  although  such  meeting  again  would 
be  a  very  uncertain    matter. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  so  much  snow  fell  that  all  the 
mountains  were  covered  with  it  and  appeared  quite  white  ; 
on  the    deck,  the   snow  was  more  than  a  quarter    deep.2 

1  A  similar  incident  is  reported  by  Abacuck  Prickett  as  having 
happened  10  Hudson  at  some  islands  near  the  northern  shore  of 
the  Strait,  which,  in  consequence,  he  called  the  Isles  of  God's  Mercy 
(see  P  lire  has  his  Pz'lgrzwcs,  vol.  iii,  p.  598). 

2  See  page  9,  note  2. 


OUTWARD   VOYAGE.  1 9 

On  the  same  day,  I  had  a  seaman  named  Anders 
Staffuanger  buried.  As  regards  this  harbour  :  we  have 
called  it  Haresund}  because  we  caught  many  hares  there  ; 
and  I  have  there  set  up  His  Royal  Majesty's  arms  and 
name,  with  large  cairns.  This  harbour  is  situated  nearly 
50  miles  inside  Freto  Christian,  in  62  degrees  20  minutes, 
on  the  northern  shore,  close  to  a  large  bay,  of  which 
the  direction  is  mostly  northerly,  and  in  which  there  would 
no  doubt  be  something  to  do,  but  not  till  the  month  of 
August.  Near  this,  to  the  West,  there  is  still  another  bay, 
which  also  has  a  northerly  direction.  On  account,  how- 
ever, of  the  very  great  quantity  of  drifting  ice,  it  was 
not  possible  to  advance  as  much  as  half  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  ships  by  water.2  Item :  in  the  same  place 
occurs  much  Russian  glass,3  and  there  also  seemed  to  be 
some  ore  ;  but,  as  I  had  nobody  with  me  who  had  knowledge 
of  such  matters,  much  investigation  concerning  it  was  not 
undertaken.  I  had,  however,  some  barrels  filled  with  the 
stuff  in  question,  which  I  took  with  me.  Concerning  the 
people  of  this  country,  we  saw  at  that  time  none  ;  but  every- 
where we  could  see  certain  signs  and  indications  of  people 
having  been  there  before,  who  had  had  their  tents  there. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  we  set  sail  with  a  North-west 
wind  in  order  to  continue  our  journey,  and  we  shaped  our 
course  West-South-West,  which,  at  that  time,  was  the 
nearest  to  the  wind  that  we  could  go  ;  because  we  were 
then  clear  of  the  ice,  excepting  a  few  pieces  which  were 
drifting  about  here  and  there.  At  the  same  time,  a  very 
stiff  and  violent  gale  commenced  ;  and,  the  wind  and  the 


1  Probably  Icy  Cove,  or  some  place  near  it.     The  question   is  fully 
discussed  in  the  Commentary, 

2  The  bays  referred    to  were  no  doubt  those  we  now  call   North 
Bay  and  White  Strait  (see  the  Commentary). 

3  Talc,  also  called  "Muscovy  Glass"  in  books  of  that  time.     This 
mineral  was  noticed  by  several  of  the  earlier  Arctic  explorers. 

22 


20  NAVIGATIO   SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

current  acting  against  each  other,  such  a  high  and  hollow 
sea  resulted  that  neither  I  nor  anybody  else  on  board  had 
ever  witnessed  the  like  of  it.  The  reason  of  this  is  the 
strong  flood  and  ebb  which  occur  here  ;  because,  when  the 
wind  and  the  current  are  opposed  to  each  other,  it  causes 
a  hollow  sea  if  there  be  a  gale,  as  the  water  rises  and 
falls  in  these  localities  over  five  fathoms  with  an  ordinary 
tide,  as  before  mentioned.1 

On  the  ioth  of  August,  early  in  the  morning,  we  came 
to'  the  western  side  of  Freto  Christian,  upon  which  the 
pilots  steered  a  southerly  course,  supposing  that  we 
had  arrived  in  a  large  bay,2  which,  however,  was 
found  to  be  otherwise.  As  we  were  now  sailing  in  a 
southerly  direction  along  shore,  we  found  the  land  to  be 
very  high  and  broken,  girt  with  many  islands  ;  and,  no 
doubt,  good  harbours  were  to  be  found  in  many  places, 
if  one  had  diligently  sought  for  such,  and  if  time  had 
permitted  to  do  so.3  Sailing  thus  along  shore  towards  the 
South,  we  came  at  last  to  a  large  promontory,  which  is 
now  called  Alecke  Ness  Cape,4  and  which  lies  in  about 
60  degrees;  here  also  a  large  bay  enters,  stretching  inwards 
due  South-West,  where  we  came  to  a  low  and  flat  land,5 
which  the  English  pilot   intimated   was   the   place  which 


1  The  Admiralty  Chart  shows  that  the  rise  and  fall  is  30  feet  at  the 
Isles  of  God's  Mercy. 

2  That  is,  Hudson's  Bay,  as  explained  in  the  Commentary. 

3  The  portion  of  the  coast  here  referred  to  was  the  southern 
shore  of  Hudson's  Strait,  from  Cape  Hope's  Advance  to  the  islands 
of  Ekkertaujok  and  Akpatok,  with  the  northern  coast  of  these  islands, 
which  coast  they  mistook  for  the  western  shore  of  Hudson's  Bay  (see 
the  Commentary). 

4  The  English  equivalent  would  be  Auk's  Ness.  It  was  probably 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Island  of  Akpatok.  The  identification  of  this 
and  adjoining  localities  presents  a  somewhat  difficult  problem,  which 
is  fully  discussed  in  the  Commentary. 

5  Probably  the  southern  coast  of  Ungava  Bay. 


OUTWARD  VOYAGE.  21 

we  searched  for.1  But  those  words  and  that  opinion 
were  soon  revoked.  Into  this  bay,  some  fine  inlets 
appeared  to  open  ;  but,  on  account  of  the  shortness  of 
our  time,  which  did  not  allow  us  to  remain  there  long,  we 
steered  our  course  out  of  the  said  Synder  bogt?  in  order 
to  continue  our  voyage  and  navigation  further.  The 
same  Bay  is  situated  in  60  degrees,  or  rather  more 
southerly. 

August  14th.  When  we  had  come  nearly  five  miles  out 
of  the  Synder  bogty  we  came  to  a  large  island,  of  which 
the  North-Western  extremity  was  very  high  land  ;  but,  on 
the  South  Side,  it  was  full  of  ice  ;  and,  inasmuch  as  there 
were  many  birds  flying  to  and  from  the  land,  and,  as  it 
appeared  white,  being  covered  with  snow,  we  called  the 
same  Snee  Oeland?  The  shape  of  this  land  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  map.  igggJT 

ON  the  20th  of  August,  the  wind  became  easterly,  where- 
fore we  shaped  our  course  West-by- North,  allowance 
being  made  for  the  variation  ;  and  we  were  then  in  62  de- 
grees 20  minutes.  We  were  then  in  our  right  track4;  but, 
as  it  was  very  foggy,  we  could  not  see  land  on  either  side, 
although  the  channel  was  not  above  16  miles  wide  in  that 
place,  between  the  main-land  on  each  side.  In  summa, 
we  sailed  thus  West -North -West -half- North  until  we 
found  ourselves  in  63  degrees  20  minutes.  However,  in 
the  meanwhile,  we  were  at  several  places  which  are  not 
now  named  here,  but  which  will  be  found  diligently  pictured 
and  described  in  the  sea-chart  which  has  been  prepared  to 

1  The  meaning  of  these  words  will  be  considered  in  our  discourse  on 
Munk's  Instructions  at  the  end  of  our  Commentary. 

2  That  is,  the  Southern  Bay.    The  bay  in  question  was  Ungava  Bay. 
?>  Probably  Green  Island.     The  passage  does  not  seem  very  logical 

but  it  stands  in  the  original  as  we  have  rendered  it  (see  the  Com- 
mentary. 

4  That  is  to  say  :  back  in  Hudson's  Strait,  sailing  westward. 


22  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

show  this  lUF  according  to  their  dimensions,  quantity 
and  quality,  size  and  shape.  Item  :  the  high  islands 
which  are  found  here-about  are  likewise  depicted  on  the 
sea-chart.1  Here  one  must  be  careful^  not  to  approach  too 
near  to  these  countries  which  are  called  lissner,2  for  the 
reason  that  both  the  strong  current  from  Freto  Christian 
and  that  from  Novo  Mari2,  meet  each  other  in  that  place  ; 
wherefore  there  is  always  a  great  deal  of  rippling,  by 
reason  of  the  strong  current  which  runs  there  ;  and, 
generally,  there  is  at  the  same  time  much  ice  drifting  in 
that  current,  which  cannot  get  away  in  either  direction, 
because  what  drifts  away  with  one  tide,  comes  back  again 
with  another.  Item:  after  advancing  about  ten  miles 
westwards  in  the  said  part  of  the  sea,  one  sights  two  islands 
which  are  called  Soster^ ;  and  right  round  these  one  may 
pick  one's  way  by  sounding.  But,  if  anyone  desires  to 
enter  into  Novum  Mare  and  to  steer  his  course  to  Novam 
Daniam?  then  he  should  leave  these  two  islands  afore- 
said half  a  mile  or  a  whole  mile  to  port,  although  he 
may  well  run  on  either  side.  Proceeding  westwards  in 
the  track,  he  will  then  come  upon  a  large,  flat  and 
low  island,  called  Digses  Eyland?  round  which  one  may 


1  The  map  here  referred  to  cannot  be  any  other  than  the  one  facing 
page  21,  which  is  marked  with  a  hand,  as  there  is  none  other.  For 
further  elucidation  of  this  passage,  we  refer  to  the  Commentary. 

2  Doubtless  a  misprint  for  Iisver,  as  it  is  spelled  on  page  54.  It  means 
a  place  where  much  ice  occurs.  The  name  is  found  on  the  map  in 
the  place  indicated  in  the  text,  but  the  islands  are  not  distinctly 
marked.  On  the  subject  of  the  "high  islands"  and  Iisver,  see  the 
Commentary.     The  country  called  Iisver  is  probably  Charles  Island. 

3  Hudson's  Strait  and  Hudson's  Bay. 

4  More  correctly,  Sostrene  (the  Sisters).  The  islands  in  question 
must  be  the  Digges  Islands,  but  are  not  distinctly  marked  on  the  map, 
where  the  name  also  is  misplaced  (see  the  Commentary). 

5  M unk's  name  for  the  country  near  the  Churchill  River,  on  the 
west  coast  of  the  Bay. 

6  Without  doubt,  Mansfield  Island. 


c-' 


/• 


1     fr  VT^^M^  ^la^^.    ---r^Mvr,? 


OUTWARD  VOYAGE.  23 

also  sail  by  sounding.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  this  island 
is  not  situated  in  a  southern  latitude,  because  it  is  both 
a  large  and  a  flat  land.  One  may  run  right  round  it 
sounding  the  while,  and  whoever  intends  to  enter  Novum 
Mare  may  likewise  run  on  whichever  side  of  it  he  prefers  ; 
but  it  is  better  to  keep  to  the  North  of  it,  because  one 
does  not  meet  so  much  ice  there  as  on  the  southern  side. 
I  sailed  right  round  the  said  island.  Item :  from  the 
northern  point  of  that  island,  which  is  now  called  Digses 
Eyland,  to  Jens  Munckes  VindterJiaffn1  in  Nova  Dania, 
the  course  is  South-West-by-South  and  South-West,  three 
days  and  three  nights  sailing  ;  and,  when  one  commences 
to  strike  the  bottom  at  30  fathoms  and  less  one  may  steer 
a  somewhat  more  southerly  course,  until  one  sights  the 
southern  land,  which  is  a  low  wooded  country.  Some  low 
rocks,  which  form  a  narrow  promontory,  will  then  appear,  on 
which  two  beacons  are  erected.2  Whoever  desires  toenter 
the  harbour  must  leave  the  beacons  to  starboard  and 
sail  in,  steering  South- West.  A  little  way  inside  the  en- 
trance, there  is  a  sunken  rock  under  the  wrater,  but  on  the 
eastern  side,  so  that  one  can  pass  it  without  difficulty.3 
One  may  then  cast  anchor  in  7  or  8  fathoms,  and  afterwards 
easily  find  out  everything  inside,  because  the  ship  Enhibr- 
ningen  (for  reasons  which  will  be  explained  hereafter)  is 
lying  about  a  mile  farther  up  the  river,  behind  a  promon- 
tory on  the  western  side.  See  the  plate,  as  well  as  the 
accompanying  map,  relating  thereto.4  >j« 


1  That  is,  Munk's  Winter- Harbour,  namely,  Port  Churchill. 

2  These  beacons  had  been  erected  by  Munk  himself,  for  the 
guidance  of  others  who  might  visit  the  place  after  him.  No  Europeans 
are  known  to  have  been  on  shore  there  before  Munk. 

3  Called  by  some  "  St.  Mary's  Rock". 

4  The  "plate"  here  referred  to  is  the  woodcut  facing,  and  marked 
with  a  *i*,  which  gives  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  harbour.  The  map  is 
the  same  which  has  been  referred  to  already.  There  is  no  special 
map  of  the  harbour. 


24  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

SEPTEMBER  7th.  When  I  now  had  come  into  the  har- 
bour aforesaid,  though  with  great  difficulty,  on  account 
of  wind  and  storm,  snow,  hail,  and  fog,  I  at  once  ordered 
my  shallop,  which  was  divided  into  six  parts,  to  be  put 
together ;  and,  during  the  night  following,  we  kept  a 
watch  on  the  land,  and  maintained  a  fire,  in  order  that 
Lamprenen,  which,  during  the  great  gale  and  storm,  had 
strayed  from  us,  might  find  us  again.  She  joined  us 
on  the  9th  of  September,  having  been  under  the  northern 
land,  where  an  open  passage  was  supposed  to  exist, 
but  there  was  none.1  The  crew  having  suffered  much 
from  the  before-mentioned  gale,  and  in  other  hardship 
and  trouble,  and  a  part  in  consequence  being  down 
with  illness,  I  caused,  during  these  days,  the  sick 
people  to  be  brought  from  the  ship  on  shore  ;  and  we 
gathered  still  some  cloud-berries,  gooseberries,  and  other 
berries,  which  in  Norway  are  called  Tydebser  and  Kragbaer.2 
I  also  had  a  good  fire  made  on  shore  every  day  for  the 
sick,  whereby  they  were  comforted,  and  in  time  nicely 
regained  their  health. 

On  the  10th  and  nth  of  September,  there  was  such 
a  terrible  snowstorm  and  gale  that  nothing  could  be 
done. 

September  12th.  In  the  morning  early,  a  large  white 
bear  came  down  to  the  water  near  the  ship,  which  stood 
and  ate  some  Beluga  flesh,  off  a  fish  so  named  which 
I  had  caught  the  day  before.3  I  shot  the  bear,  and 
the  men  all  desired  the  flesh  for  food,  which  I  also  allowed. 
I  ordered  the  cook  just  to  boil   it   slightly,   and  then  to 


1  This  subject  is  discussed  at  length  in  the  Commentary. 

2  Red  Whortleberries  (Vaccinium  vitis-idcca)  and  Crowberries 
(Empetrum  nigrum). 

3  The  Beluga,  or  White  Whale,  is  particularly  abundant  in  the 
estuary  of  the  Churchill  River.  The  shooting  of  the  Polar  Bear 
is  represented  in  the  centre  of  the  woodcut,  facing  page  28. 


WINTERING  IN  PORT  CHURCHILL.  25 

keep  it  in  vinegar  for  a  night,  and  I  myself  had  two  or 
three  pieces  of  this  bear-flesh  roasted  for  the  cabin.  It 
was  of  good  taste  and  did  not  disagree  with  us. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  I  sent  out  both  my  shallop 
and  the  ship's  boat,  under  the  command  of  my  second 
mates,  Hans  Brock  and  Jan  Pettersen,  with  orders  to 
proceed  8  or  9  miles  along  the  shore,  one  on  the  western, 
the  other  on  the  eastern  side,  and  to  examine  what  accom- 
modation the  land  afforded,  and  whether  there  were  any 
better  harbours   there  than  the  one  we  were  in. 

On  the  1 6th  of  September,  Jan  Petersen  returned,  who 
had  been  investigating  the  localities  on  the  western  side  ; 
and  he  reported  that,  where  he  had  been,  no  harbours 
could  be  found  ;  the  land  was  low,  flat,  and  wooded,  and 
there  was  scarcely  any  safe  harbour  to  protect  a  boat 
properly.  On  the  same  day,  there  was  a  terrible  snow- 
storm from  the  North-East. 

September  18th.  As  we  experienced  nothing  but  frost 
and  snow,  we  deliberated  together  as  to  what  measures  to 
take.  Then  all  the  officers  thought  it  best,  and  it  was 
finally  resolved,  that,  inasmuch  as  the  winter  was  coming 
on  us  very  hard  and  severe,  increasing  and  getting  worse 
day  by  day,  we  should  have  the  ship  brought  in  somewhere, 
as  well  as  the  unfavourable  circumstances  would  allow, 
behind  some  promontory,  where  she  might  be  safe  from 
drift-ice.  On  the  same  day,  the  ring  broke  on  the  anchor 
by  which  we  were  moored. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  we  sailed  up  the  river,  with 
the  ship  and  the  sloop,  as  far  as  we  could,  and  stayed  one 
night  at  anchor.  On  that  night,  the  new  drift-ice  cut  into 
both  sides  of  the  ship  and  of  the  sloop,  to  the  depth 
of  about  two  fingers'-breadths,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  have 
the  ship  brought  nearer  to  the  western  shore  by  8  cables' 
lengths,  across  a  flat.  It  was  a  distance  of  nearly  900 
fathoms  across  the  flat,  where  the  ship  was  in  great  danger, 


26  NAVIGATIO   SEPT ENTRIONALlS. 

because  the  ground  was  covered  with  stones,  and  the  ship 
could  not  well  rest  on  it,  on  account  of  her  being  sharp-built. 
As  the  drift-ice  got  the  upper  hand,  the  ship  stuck  on  a 
stone  and  became  quite  leaky,  so  that  all  the  carpenters  had 
enough  to  do  during  the  ebb  in  order  to  make  her  tight 
again   before   the  return   of  the  flood.1 

September  25th.  As  we  had  now  secured  the  ship  close 
under  the  land  and  brought  the  sloop  on  shore  by  means 
of  a  high  tide,  I  caused  the  ship's  keel  to  be  dug  down 
into  the  ground,  and  branches  of  trees  to  be  spread  under 
the  bilge,  packed  together  with  clay  and  sand,  in  order  that 
the  ship  might  rest  evenly  on  the  bilge  on  both  sides,  and 
thus  suffer  less  damage. 

On  the  same  day,  Hans  Brock,  the  mate,  returned,  having 
been  to  the  eastward  to  ascertain  whether  better  harbours 
could  be  found.  He  also  reported  that  there  were  no  har- 
bours suitable  for  winter  quarters  in  the  places  where  he 
had  been,  but  only  flat,  bare,  and  swampy  land.  During  his 
exploration,  he  had  been  in  great  danger  of  losing  his  life 
amongst  the  quantities  of  new  ice  which  floated  forwards 
and  backwards  ;  and  he  lost  a  grapnel  which  they  had 
with  them,  the  rope  having  snapped  on  account  of  the  bad 
condition  of  the  sea  bottom. 

September  27th.  Whilst  we  now  thought  that  the  ship 
was  well  protected  against  drift-ice  and  bad  weather,  such 
a  tremendous  drift  of  ice  came  upon  us  with  a  low  ebb 
that,  if  the  ship  had  not  been  resting  so  firmly  on  the 
ground,  we  should  have  been  carried  away  by  the  ice. 
We  were  obliged  to  let  go  all  four  hawsers  by  which  the 
ship  was  moored,  and  part  of  them  went  to  pieces.  By 
this  breaking  up  of  the  ice,  the  ship  also  became  so  leaky 
that,  at  flood-time,  we  pumped  out  quite  2,000  strokes  of 
water  ;    the    ship   was,  on  the  same  occasion,  moved   out 

1  See  the  map  of  the  harbour  in  the  Commentary. 


WINTERING  IN  PORT  CHURCHILL.  2? 

of  the  dock  which  we  originally  had  made  for  her,  and  in 
which  she  was  placed. 

On  the  28th  of  September,  at  high  tide,  we  had  the  ship 
replaced  in  position  and  moored  by  6  hawsers  ;  and,  during 
the  lowest  ebb,  the  leaks  were  looked  for  and  made  good 
again.  Thereupon,  I  had  a  fresh  dock  made  as  before,  in 
which  the  ship  again  was  placed  ;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
I  ordered  the  carpenters  and  others  who  could  ply  an  axe, 
to  make  five  bridge-piles  ;  the  other  men  hauled  timber 
and  stones  for  these  piles,  which  I  caused  to  be  placed 
before  the  bow  of  the  ship,  in  order  to  turn  off  the  ice  so 
that  it  should  not  hurt  us. 

October  1st.  Everything  being  now  well  finished,  and 
the  ship  and  the  sloop  well  protected  against  ice  and 
tempest,  I  ordered  the  hold  to  be  cleared  out,  the  cannon 
to  be  placed  in  the  hold,  and  a  part  of  our  goods  to  be 
brought  on  shore,  in  order  that  the  deck  might  be  clear 
and  the  men  have  more  space  to  move  about,  and  also 
that  the  ship  should  not  suffer  too  much  from  the  great 
weight  resting  on  her  deck. 

On  the  3rd  of  October,  I  ordered  the  crew  of  Lamprenen 
to  come  on  board  Enhiorningen  for  their  meals,  so  that 
there  should  not  be  more  than  one  galley  ;  and  I  gave 
orders  to  the  cook  and  the  steward  as  regards  the  board, 
in  accordance  with  the  Instructions  I  had  with  me  and  the 
requirements  of  the  time  and  place. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  I  distributed  to  the  crew,  clothes, 
shirts,  shoes,  and  boots,  and  whatever  else  could  be  of  use 
as  a  protection  against  the  cold. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  I  caused  two  large  fireplaces, 
round  each  of  which  20  men  might  easily  sit,  to  be 
arranged  on  the  deck,  one  before  the  mast,  the  other 
behind  the  mast,  as  well  as  a  fireplace  on  the  steerage,1 

1  A  portion  of  the  deck  astern- 


28  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

round  which  likewise  20  persons  could  be  accommodated, 
in  addition  to  that  in  the  cook's  galley,  where  he  did  his 
cooking  ;  that  he  required  to  have  to  himself. 

On  the  7th  of  October  and  next  following  days,  the 
carpenters  were  ashore  with  the  men  to  cut  timber  and 
haul  stones  for  breakwaters,  which  were  made  in  order  to 
protect  the  ship  against  damage  from  the  ice,  which  some- 
times drifted  very  much  there  during  the  rising  of  the  tide 
and  until  the  ebb  was  halfway  out. 

That  same  day,  the  weather  being  fine,  I  myself 
journeyed  up  the  river  to  see  how  far  I  could  get  with  a 
boat ;  but,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  up,  there  were  so  many 
stones  in  it,  that  I  could  not  advance  any  further,  and  had 
to  return.  I  had  brought  with  me  all  sorts  of  small  goods, 
intending,  if  I  had  met  any  natives,  to  present  them  with 
some  in  order  to  become  acquainted  with  them,  but  I 
could  neither  find  nor  perceive  any.  On  my  return 
journey,  I  came  to  a  promontory  and  found  there  a  picture 
on  a  stone,  drawn  with  charcoal,  fashioned  like  the  half  of 
a  devil,  wherefore  I  called  the  same  promontory  Dieffuers 
Hug} 

In  many  places  where  we  came,  we  could  quite  well  see 
where  people  had  been  and  had  their  summer  abodes. 
Even  in  the  place  where  the  ship  is  lying,  there  are  certain 
signs  and  indications  of  people  having  been  there.  In  the 
forest,  there  are,  likewise,  in  many  places,  great  heaps  of 
chips,  where  they  have  cut  wood  or  timber  ;  and  the  chips 
look  as  if  they  had  been  cut  off  with  curved  iron  tools.  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  the  said  people  have  some 
kind  of  idolatry  connected  with  fire ;  because,  where- 
ever  one   finds    places  where  they  have  had  their  dwell- 

1  That  is,  "Devil's  Cape".  It  is,  perhaps.  Musketo  Point,  situated 
at  the  point  where  the  river  suddenly  expands  into  the  Estuary, 
and  about  one  Danish  mile  (or  four-and-a-half  English  miles)  above 
the  place  where  the  vessels  were  lying. 


WINTERING  IN  PORT  CHURCHILL.  20, 

frigs  in  the  summer  near  the  seaside,  some  square  places, 
nearly  eight  feet  either  way,  are  generally  to  be  found, 
which  are  bordered  with  stones,  and,  at  one  extremity, 
are  covered  with  thin  flat  stones  and  moss,  whilst,  at 
the  other  extremity,  two  flat  stones  are  found  standing 
upright,  edgewise,  about  a  foot  apart  ;  on  which  two  stones, 
a  flat  stone  is  placed,  fashioned  as  if  intended  for  a  small 
altar,  on  which  two  or  three  small  pieces  of  charcoal  are 
placed,  no  fire  or  coals  being  observable  elsewhere  near. 
From  this,  I  can  only  conclude  that  this  has  been  used  for 
their  idolatrous  worship  ;  and,  if  that  is  so,  it  is  to  be 
wished  that  these  poor  blinded  pagans  might  come  to  the 
profession  of  the  true  Christian  Faith.1  As  regards  their 
food  and  mode  of  living  :  it  would  seem  that  they  use  much 
in  a  half-cooked  state,  because,  wherever  we  found  that 
they  had  had  their  meals,  the  bones  did  not  seem  to  have 
been  very  well  roasted. 

On  the  10th  of  October,  I  commenced  to  give  the  men 
rations  of  wine  ;  but  beer  they  were  allowed  to  drink 
according  to  their  want,  as  much  as  every  man  himself 
liked.  At  the  same  time,  I  made  regulations  for  keep- 
ing a  watch,  the  fetching  of  wood,  and  burning  of  char- 
coal, as  well  as  with  regard  to  whose  duty  it  was  to  be, 
during  the  day,  to  melt  snow  into  water;  so  that  everybody 
knew  what  he  was  to  do,  and  how  he  had  to  conduct  himself. 

October  15th.  During  the  night,  the  new  drift-ice  has 
again  lifted  the  ship  out  of  the  dock  in  which  she  was 
placed  ;  but  I  at  once  ordered  fresh  branches  to  be  thrown 
under  the  vessel  at  the  next  low  water  and  the  spaces  to  be 
filled  up  with  clay  and  sand  as  before.  In  the  same  night,  the 
ice  carried  one  of  the  piers  right  away  ;  in  consequence  of 
which,  I  was  obliged  at  once  to  order  another  to  be  built 


1  These  places  were  the   graves  of  the  natives,  as  observed   and 
described  by  several  of  the  early  explorers. 


30  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

in  the  place  of  it,  for  the  protection  of  the  ship.  As  soon 
as  the  ice  had  become  quite  firm,  the  ship  suffered  no 
further  damage. 

On  the  22nd  of  October,  the  ice  became  firm  for  good, 
as  it  was  a  terribly  hard  frost.  On  the  same  night,  we 
caught  a  black  fox. 

After  this  day,  the  crew  commenced  to  go  on  shore  in 
the  day  time  in  pursuit  of  game.  A  part  went  into  the 
forest  to  set  traps  to  catch  animals,  and  some  of  these 
built  a  hut  wherein  to  lie  for  glug,  as  it  is  called  in 
Norway1;  another  part  of  the  men  betook  themselves  to 
the  open  country  for  shooting,  because  there  was  plenty  of 
ptarmigan2  and  hares,3  as  well  as  all  kinds  of  birds,  as  long 
as  the  snow  was  not  too  deep  ;  so  that,  before  Christmas, 
there  was  enough  of  pastime.  At  that  time,  all  the  men 
liked  to  go  into  the  forest  or  the  open  country  for  shooting,- 
because  they  never  went  on  shore  when  the  weather  was 
fine  but  that  they  carried  home  something  good,  which 
was   a  sufficient  inducement  to  them  to   move   about. 

On  the  30th  of  October,  the  ice  everywhere  covered  the 
river,  which,  down  to  that  time,  could  not  freeze  completely 
on  account  of  the  strong  ebb  and  flow  which  prevailed. 
During  these  days,  the  frost  was  rather  mild,  and  every 
day  there  was  fine  clear  sunshine  ;  wherefore  I  went  on 
shore  on  the  7th  of  November  with  19  men,  and  penetrated 
nearly  three  miles  into  the  country,  in  order  to  ascertain 
whether  any  inhabitants  were  to  be  found.     As,  however, 

1  Glug  signifies  a  window  or  similar  opening.  To  lie  for  glug 
means  to  lie  in  ambush  behind  a  glug,  in  order  to  watch  traps  or  to 
shoot  animals  attracted  by  a  bait,  or  otherwise. 

2  The  Willow  Ptarmigan  of  Hudson's  Bay  is  identical  with  the 
European  species  (Lagofius  alaus),  which  being  common  in  the  North 
of  Europe  was  well  known  to  Munk  and  his  crew  under  the  name  of 
Rype.  This,  accordingly,  is  the  appellation  used  in  the  original.  The 
early  English  explorers  misnamed  this  bird  "  White  Partridge". 

3  Probably  the  Polar  Hare  (Lepus  glacialis). 


WINTERING  IN  PORT  CHURCHILL.  3  I 

there  was  a  sudden  great  fall  of  snow,  which  was  too 
heavy  for  us  to  make  our  way  through,  we  were  obliged  to 
return  without  effecting  anything  by  the  journey.  But,  if 
we  had  had  snowshoes,  such  as  are  used  in  Norway,  and 
men  that  knew  how  to  run  on  them,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  we  might  have  got  far  enough  to  find  people.  Other- 
wise, it  is  impossible  to  get  along  in  these  countries  in  the 
winter.1 

On  the  10th  of  November,  which  was  St.  Martin's  Eve, 
the  men  shot  some  ptarmigan,  with  which  we  had  to  con- 
tent ourselves,  instead  of  St.  Martin's  goose2;  and  I  ordered 
a  pint  of  Spanish  wine  for  each  bowl3  to  be  given  to  the 
men,  besides  their  daily  allowance  ;  wherewith  the  whole 
crew  were  well  satisfied,  even  merry  and  joyful  ;  and  of 
the  ship's  beer  there  was  given  them  as  much  as  they 
liked.  But,  afterwards,  when  the  frost  got  the  upper  hand, 
the  beer  froze  to  the  bottom,  so  that  I  was  afraid  of  letting 
the  men  drink  of  it  before  they  had  well  melted  and  boiled 
it  again ;  for  which  reason,  I  had  every  fresh  barrel,  as  it  was 
taken  up  for  consumption,  boiled  afresh,  because,  in  any 
case,  it  was  better  than  snow  water,  which  otherwise  would 
have  had  to  be  melted  for  drinking  or  mixing  with  wine. 
However,  in  this  matter,  I  let  the  men  follow  their  own 
inclination,  because  the  common  people,  after  all,  are  so 
disposed  that,  whatever  is  most  strongly  forbidden  them, 
they,  notwithstanding,  are  most  apt  to  do  on  the  sly,  with- 
out considering  whether  it  be  beneficial  or  hurtful  to  them. 

On  the  1 2th  of  November,  we  had  fine  sunshine  ;  and  in 
the  evening  the  sun  was  observed  to  set  South-West-by- 
West.      It    is  likewise  to  be  noted   that,  hereabouts,  the 

1  Others  have  made  the  same  observation ;  and,  amongst  Munk's 
requisites  for  a  second  expedition,  Skier  (snow-shoes)  are  mentioned 

2  Roast  Goose  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Martin  is  as  obligatory  in 
Denmark  as  Turkey  on  Christmas  Day  in  England. 

3  Probably  equivalent  to:  for  each  mess. 


32  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALTS. 

moon  causes  a  full  sea  when  in  the  East-South-East  and 
West- North -West. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  two  of  my  men  first  com- 
menced to  lie  for  glug  (as  it  is  called  in  Norway)  in  a 
small  hut  which  they  had  built  for  the  purpose  in  the 
forest  ;  and,  in  the  first  night,  they  caught  two  black 
foxes   and   a  cross  fox,   which  were  all  beautiful. 

November  14th.  In  the  night,  a  large  black  dog  came 
to  the  ship  on  the  ice,  when  the  man  on  the  watch  observed 
him,  and,  not  knowing  but  that  it  was  a  black  fox,  at  once 
shot  him,  and,  with  much  exultation,  dragged  him  into  the 
cabin,  thinking  that  he  had  got  a  great  prize.  But,  when, 
in  the  morning,  we  examined  it,  we  found,  it  to  be  a  large 
dog,  which  no  doubt  had  been  trained  to  catch  game, 
because  he  had  been  tied  round  the  nose  with  small  cords, 
so  that  the  hair  was  rubbed  off  there.1  His  right  ear  was 
cleft,  and  perhaps  his  owner  was  not  very  pleased  to  lose 
him.  I  should  myself  have  been  glad  to  have  caught  him 
alive,  in  which  case  I  should  have  made  a  pedlar  of  him, 
and  have  let  him  go  home  to  where  he  had  come  from 
with  small  goods. 

November  21st.  During  these  days,  the  weather  was 
very  beautiful — as  fine  as  could  be  expected  in  Denmark  at 
that  time  of  the  year  ;  the  sea  outside  us  was  also  quite 
clear,  and  the  water  open  as  far  as  we  could  see  over  the 
sea.  It  is,  however,  to  be  noticed  that  the  ice  on  the  sea 
drifts  mostly  according  to  the  strength  of  the  wind.  Item: 
during  all  these  days,  as  long  as  the  fine  and  mild  weather 
lasted,  the  men  were  every  day  in  the  forest,  although  the 
snow  was  very  deep.  Some  of  them  shot  ptarmigan, 
which  were  of  great  assistance  to  us  ;  whilst  others  visited 
and  put  in  order  their  traps,  in  which  they  caught  animals. 


1  The  Eskimaux  generally  muzzle  their  dogs  on  account   of  their 
thievish  habits. 


WINTERING    IN    PORT    CHURCHILL.  33 

On  the  same  day,  a  sailor  who  had  long  been  ill  was 
buried. 

November  23rd.  When  the  sun  was  in  the  South-West, 
there  was  an  appearance  in  the  sky  as  if  there  had  been 
three  suns  in  the  heavens. 

On  the  27th  of  November,  there  was  a  very  sharp  frost, 
by  which  all  the  glass  bottles  we  had  (which  contained  all 
kinds  of  precious  waters)  were  broken  to  pieces  ;  wherefore 
it  is  to  be  observed  that  whoever  intends  to  navigate  such 
cold  seas  should  supply  himself  well  with  tin  bottles,  or 
others  that   are   able   to  resist   the  frost. 

On  the  3rd  of  December,  the  weather  being  very  mild, 
I  went  out  into  the  middle  of  the  estuary,  with  some  of 
the  men,  in  order  to  ascertain  how  thick  the  ice  was  in  the 
middle  of  the  channel ;  and  we  found  that  the  ice  was 
seven  Seeland  quarters  thick1;  and  this  thickness  it 
retained  until  long  after  Christmas,  whether  the  frost  was 
more  or  less  severe.  But,  in  quiet  standing  water,  the  ice 
became  much  thicker  than  seven  quarters.  As  regards 
much  of  the  drift-ice  which  floats  forwards  and  back- 
wards in  the  sea,  and  exhibits  very  great  thickness  :  this 
ice  comes  out  of  the  many  large  rivers  and  bays,  and 
owing  to  the  great  force  of  the  wind  and  the  current,  by 
which  it  is  shoved  together,  it  attains  such  great  thickness, 
and  thus  floats  away.  Amongst  this  ice,  there  occur  large 
masses  rising  quite  twenty  fathoms  above  the  water  ;  and 
some  such  masses  of  ice,  which  I  myself  have  had  examined, 
stood  firm  on  the  sea-bottom  in  more  than  40  fathoms, 
which,  perhaps,  may  seem  incredible,  but,  nevertheless,  is 
so  in  truth.  Concerning  such  deep  and  high  masses  of  ice 
as  I  have  found  :  it  is  my  opinion  that,  where  many  high 
and  steep  mountains  are  found,  there  is  also  very  deep  water. 
All  the  snow  which  is  driven  on  to  the  mountains,  having 

1  That  is,  about  3  feet  7  inches  thick  (see  p.  9,  11.  2). 

3 


34  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

great  weight,  slides  down  by  degrees  ;  and,  as  soon  as  the 
snow  comes  into  the  water,  in  such  cold  places,  it  is  at 
once  converted  into  ice.  Being  every  day  in  such  wise 
increased,  it  at  last  becomes  so  thick  and  high  ;  because, 
generally,  where  such  high  lands  and  mountains  are 
found,  there  also  such  large  and  thick  masses  of  ice 
occur.1 

On  the  ioth  of  December,  in  the  evening,  about  half- 
past  eight  o'clock,  the  moon  appeared  in  an  eclipse. 
When  the  moon  became  full,  it  was  surrounded  by  a  large 
circle,  which  was  very  clear,  and  a  cross  appeared  therein, 
which  divided  the  moon  both  across  and  lengthwise.  This 
commenced  when  the  moon  was  in  the  East-North-East, 
and  lasted  till  she  came  round  to  the  East  ;  then  the  moon 
commenced  to  come  into  the  eclipse.  The  distance  of  the 
moon  from  the  circle  furthest  from  the  moon  was,  on 
either  side,  equally,  20I  degrees  above  my  easterly  horizon. 
When  first  the  eclipse  commenced,  the  moon  was  15J 
degrees  above  my  eastern  horizon  ;  but,  at  the  time  when 
the  eclipse  came  to  an  end,  the  moon  was  47  degrees  above 
my  southern  horizon,  and  in  the  South-East-by-South  ;  at 
10  o'clock,  it  came  to  an  end. 

For  further  information  concerning  this  eclipse  of  the 
moon,  I  refer  the  benevolent  reader  to  the  Ephemerides, 
where  he  can  see  year,  month,  and  day  when  the 
said  eclipse  commenced  and  ended  ;  and  he  will  then 
learn  with  certainty  what  difference  there  is  in  the  longitude 
of  the  places.  This  is  my  short  and  simple  description  of 
the  said  eclipse  which  I  have  seen  and  observed  in  the  said 
place,  hoping  that  the  benevolent  reader  who  has  know- 
ledge of  these  matters  will  take  all  I  have  said  in  the  best 

1  Munk's  theory  of  the  formation  of  Icebergs  is  noticed  in  the 
Commentary  ;  where,  also,  it  is  pointed  out  that  those  Munk  here 
alludes  to  were  seen  by  him  in  Hudson's  Strait,  not  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  wintering-place,  where  none  occur. 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  35 

meaning,  even  though  I  have  not  here  described  every 
circumstance  exactly  as  I  ought.1 

On  the  1 2th  of  December,  one  of  my  two  surgeons, 
the  one  on  Lamprenen,  David  Velske  by  name,  died,  and 
his  corpse  had  to  remain  on  the  ship  unburied  for  two 
days,  because  the  frost  was  so  very  severe  that  nobody 
could  get  on  shore  to  bury  him  before  the  14th  of 
December  ;  and  the  cold  was  then  so  intense  that  many 
of  the  men  got  frostbites  on  the  nose  and  the  cheeks 
when  they  met  the  wind  with  uncovered  face. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  the  weather  was  fine  and 
mild,  so  that  the  whole  crew  was  on  shore.  A  part  of  them 
went  shooting,  so  that  we  might  have  some  fresh  meat  for  the 
approaching  Christmas  Holy  Days  ;  another  part  occupied 
themselves  with  getting  wood  and  burning  charcoal.  In 
the  evening,  the  men  who  had  been  out  shooting  returned 
and  brought  a  number  of  ptarmigan  and  a  hare. 

On  the  22nd  of  December,  we  had  a  sharp  frost.  I  had 
a  Rostock2  barrel  filled  with  water  ;  and,  in  the  morning, 
when  they  loosened  the  hoops  of  the  barrel,  it  was  frozen 
quite  to  the  bottom,  and  was  all  ice. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  which  was  Christmas  Eve,  I 
gave  the  men  wine  and  strong  beer,  which  they  had  to  boil 
afresh,  for  it  was  frozen  to  the  bottom  ;  so  they  had  quite 
as  much  as  they  could  stand,  and  were  very  jolly,  but  no 
one  offended  another  with  as  much  as  a  word. 

The  Holy  Christmas  Day  we  all  celebrated  and  observed 
solemnly,  as  a  Christian's  duty  is.  We  had  a  sermon 
and  Mass  ;  and,  after  the  sermon,  we  gave  the  priest  an 
offertory,  according  to  ancient  custom,  each  in  proportion 
to  his   means.     There  was  not  much  money  among  the 

1  With  regard  to  Munk's  evidently-confused  description  of  the 
eclipse,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  Commentary. 

2  The  beer  of  Rostock  was  then  much  prized  in  Denmark. 

32 


36  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

men,  but  they  gave  what  they  had  ;  some  of  them  gave 
white  fox-skins,  so  that  the  priest  got  enough  wherewith 
to  line  a  coat.  However,  sufficiently  long  life  to  wear  it  was 
not  granted  to  him. 

During  all  the  Holy  Days,  the  weather  was  rather  mild; 
and,  in  order  that  the  time  might  not  hang  on  hand,  the 
men  practised  all  kinds  of  games  ;  and  whoever  could 
imagine  the  most  amusement  was  the  most  popular.  The 
crew,  most  of  whom  were,  at  that  time,  in  good  health, 
consequently  had  all  sorts  of  larks  and  pastimes  ;  and  thus 
we  spent  the  Holy  Days  with  the  merriment  that  was 
got   up. 

Anno  Domini  1620. 

JANUARY  1st  On  New  Year's  Day,  there  was  a  tre- 
mendously sharp  frost,  and  I  ordered  a  couple  of  pints 
of  wine  to  every  bowl  to  be  given  the  people,  over  and 
above  their  daily  allowance,  in  order  that  they  might  keep 
themselves  in  good  spirits.  We  had  quite  clear  sunshine 
on  that  day  ;  and  we  always  had  the  hardest  frost  with  a 
North- West  wind.  During  these  days,  we  had  the  sharpest 
frost  that  we  had  yet  experienced  during  the  whole  winter  ; 
and  at  the  time  we  suffered  more  severely  from  that 
terrible  frost  than  from  anything  else. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  and  all  the  preceding  days,  the 
fearfully  hard  frost  continued,  with  a  North-West  wind  and 
clear  sunshine.     On  that  day,  one  of  my  sailors  died. 

On  the  9th  of  January,  the  men  recommenced  catching 
some  foxes  and  sables. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  the  priest,  Mr.  Rasmus  Jensen, 
and  the  surgeon,  M.  Casper  Caspersen,  took  to  their  beds 
having  for  some  time  felt  very  unwell  ;  and,  after  that 
time,  violent  sickness  commenced  amongst  the  men,  which 
day  by  day  prevailed  more  and  more.  The  illness  which 
then  raged  was  very  peculiar,  and  the  sick  were  generally 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  37 

attacked  by  dysentery  about  three  weeks  before  they  died. 
On  the  same  day,  my  head  cook  died. 

January  18th.  On  all  these  days,  the  weather  was  as 
mild  as  it  ever  could  be  here  in  Denmark  at  that  time  of 
the  year  ;  and  all  the  men  who  were  still  in  health  were  in 
the  forest,  each  about  his  business,  but  principally  shooting, 
in  order  to  get  some  ptarmigan  for  the  sick. 

On  the  2 1  st  January,  it  was  fine  clear  weather  and 
sunshine  ;  and,  on  that  date,  thirteen  of  us  were  down  with 
sickness.  Then,  as  I  had  often  done  before,  I  asked  the 
surgeon,  M.  Casper  Caspersen  aforesaid,  who  was  also 
lying  mortally  ill,  whether  he  knew  of  any  good  remedy- 
that  might  be  found  in  his  chest  and  which  might  serve 
for  the  recovery  or  comfort  of  the  crew,  as  well  as  of 
himself,  requesting  him  to  inform  me  of  it.  To  this  he 
answered  that  he  had  already  used  as  many  remedies  as  he 
had  with  him  to  the  best  of  his  ability  and  as  seemed  to  him 
advisable,  and  that,  if  God  would  not  help,  he  could  not 
employ  any  further  remedy  at  all  that  would  be  useful  for 
recovery. 

On  the  23rd  of  January,  died  one  of  my  two  mates,  Hans 
Brock  by  name,  who  had  been  ill,  in  and  out  of  bed,  for 
nearly  five  months.  On  the  same  day,  it  was  fine  weather 
and  beautiful  sunshine  ;  and  the  priest  sat  up  in  his  berth 
and  gave  the  people  a  sermon,  which  sermon  was  the  last 
he  delivered  in  this  world. 

On  the  24th  of  January,  in  the  forenoon,  there  appeared 
to  be  two  natural  suns  on  the  heavens. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  when  I  had  the  body  of  my 
mate,  the  before-mentioned  Hans  Brock,  buried,  I  ordered 
two  falconets1  to  be  discharged,  which  was  the  last  honour 
that  I   could   show   him  at   that  time.     But   the  trunnion 


1  The  "falconet"  or  "falcon  gun"  was  a  sort  of  small  cannon,  now 
obsolete. 


38  NAVIGATIO  septentrionalis. 

burst  off  both  falconets,  and  the  man  who  fired  them  very 
nearly  lost  both  his  legs,  so  very  brittle  had  the  iron 
become  on  account  of  the  sharp  and  severe  frost. 

On  the  27th  January,  died  Jens  Helsing,  seaman.  On 
the  same  day  my  lieutenant,  the  well-born  Maurids  Stygge, 
took  to  his  bed  for  good,  after  having  been  ailing  some  time. 

Item  :  on  the  same  day,  the  men  saw  the  tracks  of 
five  reindeer  which  had  been  chased  by  a  wolf,  of  which 
the  footprints  could  also  be  seen  ;  wherefore,  I  sent  a  party 
of  the  men  in  order  to  trace  the  said  deer  and  wolf,  hoping 
to  obtain  some  of  them.  But,  on  account  of  a  great  fall  of 
snow  which  overtook  the  men,  they  could  not  trace  the 
said  animals  further,  and  returned  without  catching  any. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  the  cold  was  so  severe  that  a 
tin  pot  with  some  water  in  it,  which  the  boy  had  forgotten 
in  the  cabin,  had  burst  in  the  night  by  the  frost  ;  so  that  I 
do  not  know  in  what  kind  of  vessels  any  precious  waters 
may  be  preserved  on  voyages  to  such  cold  seas,  as  tin 
cannot  stand. 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  the  frost  was  very  hard.  The 
men  who  were  on  shore  obtained  two  ptarmigan,  which 
were  very  welcome  for  the  use  of  the  sick. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  a  seaman,  named  Laurids 
Bergen,  died.  On  the  same  day,  I  again  sent  to  the 
surgeon,  the  before-mentioned  M.  Casper  Caspersen,  with 
an  urgent  request  that,  for  God's  sake,  he  would  do  his 
utmost,  if  he  knew  of  any  remedy  or  good  advice  ;  or  else 
that,  inasmuch  as  he  was  himself  very  ill  and  weak,  he 
would  let  me  know  what  medicine  or  remedy  I  could  use 
in  any  way  for  the  benefit  of  the  crew  ;  to  which  he 
answered,  as  before,  that,  if  God  would  not  help,  he  could 
not  render  any  advice  or  assistance  at  all. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  I  went  with  three  men  to  the 
opening  by  which  we  had  entered,  to  see  how  matters 
stood  with  the  ice  in  the  sea  ;  but,  at  that   time,  we  could 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  39 

not  see  any  open  water,  and  in  the  evening  we  returned  to 
the  ship. 

February  10th.  During  these  days,  the  weather  was 
rather  mild,  but  there  was  much  sickness  and  weakness 
amongst  the  crew.  Two  of  them  died  on  this  day,  after 
having  been  on   their  sick-bed    for  a  very  long  time. 

On  the  1 2th  of  February,  we  caught  two  ptarmigan, 
which  were  very  welcome  for  the  use  of  the  sick. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  I  ordered  for  each  person  at 
each  meal  in  the  day  one-third  of  a  pint  of  wine,  and  in 
the  morning  a  whole  measure  of  whisky,  beyond  the 
ordinary  allowance. 

February  16th.  During  all  these  days,  there  was  nothing 
but  sickness  and  weakness  ;  and  every  day  the  number  of 
the  sick  was  continually  increased,  so  that,  on  this  day, 
there  were  only  seven  persons  in  health  that  could  fetch 
wood  and  water,  and  do  whatever  work  there  was  to  be 
done  on  board.  On  the  same  day,  died  a  seaman  who 
had  been  ill  the  whole  voyage  ;  and  one  may  truly  say  he 
was   as  dirty  in   his   habits   as   an  untrained  beast. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  one  of  my  men,  Rasmus 
Kiobenhauffn,  died  ;  and,  of  the  crew,  there  had  then 
already  died  twenty  persons.  On  that  day,  we  got  a  hare, 
which  was  very  welcome. 

On  the  20th  of  February,  in  the  evening,  died  the  priest, 
Mr.  Rasmus  Jensen  aforesaid,  who  had  been  ill  and  had 
kept  his  bed  a  long  time. 

February  25th.  During  all  these  days,  nothing  particular 
has  happened,  except  that  the  lieutenant's  servant,  Claus  by 
name,  who  had  been  ill,  died.  In  this  last  night,  the  frost  has 
broken  the  bottom  of  a  kettle  which  was  used  for  melting 
snow  in  the  daytime,  a  little  water  having  been  forgotten 
in  it  the  evening  before. 

On  the  29th  of  February,  the  frost  was  so  severe  that 
nobody  could   get  on  shore  to  fetch  water  or  wood  ;  and 


40  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

that  day  the  cook  was  obliged  to  take  for  fuel  whatever  he 
could  find.  Towards  evening,  however,  I  got  a  man  on 
shore  to  fetch  wood.  On  that  same  day,  I  was  obliged  to 
mind  the  cabin  myself:  otherwise  we  should  have  got 
nothing  to  eat  all  day,  because  my  servant  had  then  also 
fallen   ill   and   taken    to   his   bed   altogether. 

On  the  ist  of  March,  died  Jens  Borringholm  and  Hans 
Skudenes  ;  and,  the  sickness  having  now  prevailed  so  far 
that  nearly  all  of  the  crew  lay  sick,  we  had  great  difficulty 
in   getting  the   dead   buried. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  the  weather  was  mild,  and  we 
caught  five  ptarmigan  in  the  open  country,  which  were 
very  welcome  to  us.  I  ordered  broth  to  be  made  of  them, 
and  had  that  distributed  amongst  the  sick  ;  but,  of  the 
meat,  they  could  eat  nothing,  because  of  their  mouths 
being  badly  affected  inside  with  scurvy. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  died  Oluf  Boye,  who  had  been  ill 
nearly  nine  weeks,  and  his  body  was  at  once  buried. 

On  the  9th  of  March,  died  Anders,  the  cooper,  who  had 
lain  sick  since  Christmas,  and  his  body  was  at  once  buried. 

On  the  11th  of  March,  the  sun  entered  Aries;  it  was 
then  the  Spring  Equinox,  night  and  day  being  equally 
long.  In  those  quarters,  the  sun  rose  in  the  East-South- 
East,  and  set  in  the  West-North-West  at  7  o'clock  in  the 
evening  ;  but  it  was  not  really  more  than  six  o'clock  on 
account  of  the  variation.1  On  the  same  day,  the  weather 
was  fine  and  mild,  and  I  had  all  the  snow  thrown  off  the 
deck  of  the  ship  and  had  it  nicely  cleaned.  At  that  time, 
I  had  but  few  to  choose  between  that  could  do  any  work. 

March  21st.  During  all  these  days,  the  weather  was 
changeable.  Sometimes  it  was  fine  and  clear  ;  at  other 
times,  sharp  and  severe,  so  that  nothing  particular  can  be 


1  Some  observations  on   this  passage  will  be  found  in  the  Com- 
mentai  y. 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  41 

recorded  on  that  score.  But,  as  regards  the  crew,  the  most 
part  of  them  were,  alas,  down  with  illness,  and  it  was  very 
miserable  and  melancholy  either  to  hear  or  see  them. 
On  that  same  day,  died  the  surgeon,  M.  Casper,  before- 
mentioned,  and  Povel  Pedersen,  who  had  both  been  ill 
almost  since  Christmas.  Now  and  afterwards,  the  sickness 
raged  more  violently  every  day,  so  that  we  who  were  still 
left  suffered  great  trouble  before  we  could  get  the  dead 
buried. 

March  24th.  All  these  days  the  weather  was  fine  and 
mild,  without  frost  ;  and  we  hoped  now  that,  after  this  day, 
the  weather  would  become  favourable.  One  of  the  men, 
who  got  on  shore  and  climbed  a  high  rock,  saw  open 
water  outside  the  inlet,  which  filled  us  with  confident 
expectations. 

On  25th  of  March,  died  the  skipper,  Jan  Ollufsen,  who 
had  been  ill  in  bed  for  19  weeks.  That  same  day,  the 
weather  was  fine,  and  I  was  ashore  myself  and  collected 
Tydebaer  (as  they  are  called  in  Norway)  where  the  snow 
had  melted  off.  They  were  as  fresh  in  such  places  as  if  it 
had  been  in  the  autumn  ;  but  one  had  to  be  careful  to 
gather  them  at  once  :  because  otherwise  they  withered 
speedily. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  it  was  also  fine  weather.  I  was 
on  shore  and  gathered  a  quantity  of  berries,  which  I 
distributed  amongst  the  men.  They  were  very  welcome, 
and  did  not  disagree  with  them. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  I  looked  over  the  surgeon's 
chest  and  examined  its  contents  in  detail,  because, 
having  no  longer  any  surgeon,  I  had  now  to  do  the  best  I 
could  myself.  But  it  was  a  great  neglect  and  mistake 
that  there  was  not  some  little  list,  supplied  by  the  phy- 
sicians, indicating  what  those  various  medicaments  were 
good  for,  and  how  they  were  to  be  used.  I  am  also 
certain,   and  would   venture  to  stake  my  life    on    it,  that 


42  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENNTRlOALIS. 

there  were  many  kinds  of  medicaments  in  that  surgeon's 
chest  which  the  surgeon  I  had  did  not  know  :  much  less 
did  he  know  for  what  purpose,  and  in  what  way,  they  were 
to  be  employed  ;  because  all  the  names  were  written  in 
Latin,  of  which  he  had  not  forgotten  much  in  his  life- 
time ;  but,  whenever  he  was  going  to  examine  any  bottle 
or  box,  the  priest  had  to  read  the  description  out  for  him. 

March  29th.  All  these  days,  the  weather  was  rather 
mild.  On  the  same  day,  died  Ismael  Abrahamsen  and 
Christen  Gregersen,  whose  dead  bodies  also  were  buried 
on  the  same  day,  according  to  our  opportunity  and  ability 
at  that  time. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  there  was  a  sharp  frost.  On  that 
day,  died  Suend  Arffuedsen,  carpenter  ;  and  at  this  time 
commenced  my  greatest  sorrow  and  misery,  and  I  was  then 
like  a  wild  and  lonely  bird.  I  was  now  obliged  myself  to 
run  about  in  the  ship,  to  give  drink  to  the  sick,  to  boil 
drink  for  them,  and  get  for  them  what  I  thought  might  be 
good  for  them,  to  which  I  was  not  accustomed,  and  of 
which   I   had  but  little  knowledge. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  died  my  second  mate,  Johan 
Petterson,  who   had  been   ill  in   bed  a  long  time. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  died  my  late  nephew,  Erich  Munck, 
and  his  and  Johan  Petterson's  dead  bodies  were  placed 
together  in  one  grave. 

On  the  3rd  of  April,  it  was  a  fearfully  sharp  frost,  so 
that  none  of  us  could  uncover  himself  for  cold.  Nor  had  I 
now  anybody  to  command,  for  they  were  all  lying  under 
the  hand  of  God,  so  that  there  was  great  misery  and  sorrow. 
On  the  same  day,  died  Iffuer  Alsing. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  the  weather  was  so  cold  and  severe 
that  it  was  entirely  impossible  for  anyone  to  get  on  shore 
and  dig  a  grave  wherein  to  bury  the  dead  bodies  which 
were  in   the  ship. 

On    the    5th    of    April,    died    Christoffer    Opsloe    and 


WINTERING   IN   PORT   CHURCHILL.  43 

Rasmus  Clemendsen,  my  chief  gunner  and  his  mate.  On 
the  same  day,  towards  evening,  died  my  boatswain,  Lauritz 
Hansen  by  name  ;  and  the  number  of  men  in  health  was 
now  so  small  that  we  were  scarcely  able  to  bury  the  bodies 
of  the  dead. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  died  Villom  Gorden,1  my  chief 
mate,  wTho  had  long  been  ill,  in  and  out  of  bed.  On  the 
same  day,  towards  evening,  died  Anders  Sodens,  and  his 
dead  body  and  that  of  the  above-mentioned  Villom  Gardon 
were  buried  together  in  one  grave,  which  we  who  then 
were  alive  could  only  manage  with  great  difficulty,  on 
account  of  the  miserable  weakness  that  was  upon  us,  in 
consequence  of  which,  not  one  of  us  was  well  or  strong 
enough  to  go  into  the  forest  to  fetch  wood  and  fuel  ;  and 
we  were  obliged,  during  those  days,  to  collect  everything 
that  was  in  the  ship  and  would  serve  for  fuel  ;  when  that 
was  consumed,  we  were  obliged  to  take  our  shallop  for 
fuel. 

On  April  the  10th,  died  the  honourable  and  well-born 
gentleman  Mauritz  Stygge,  my  lieutenant,  who  had  long 
been  ill  in  bed  ;  and  I  took  some  of  my  own  linen, 
wherein  to  wrap  his  body  as  well  as  I  could.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  I  got  a  coffin  made  for  him. 

On  the  1 2th  of  April,  we  had  fine  sunshine  and  some 
rain,  which  had  not  fallen  in  that  locality  for  seven  months. 
On  the  same  day,  we  carried  the  lieutenant's  body  on  shore, 
and  buried  it  properly,  according  to  our  ability  at  that 
time. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  I  took  a  bath  in  a  wine-cask, 
which  I  had  caused  to  be  prepared  for  the  purpose  ;  and 
I  utilized  for  this  purpose  all  the  kinds  of  herbs  which 
we  found  in  the  surgeon's  chest  and  thought  serviceable. 
After  that,  my  men  likewise  had  a  bath,  as  many  of  them 

1  William  Gordon,  the  English  pilot. 


44  NAVIGAT IO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

as  could  move  about  and  were  not  too  weak  ;  which 
bath  (thanks  be  to  God)  did  us  much  good,  myself  in 
particular. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  there  was  a  sharp  frost.  On  that 
day,  only  four,  besides  myself,  had  strength  enough  to  sit 
up  in  the  berth  and  listen  to  the  homily  for  Good  Friday. 

The  1 6th  of  April  was  Easter  Day.  Then  died  Anders 
Oroust  and  Jens,  the  cooper,  who  had  been  ill  and  in  bed  a 
long  time  ;  and,  as  the  weather  was  fairly  mild,  I  got  their 
bodies  buried.  On  the  same  day,  I  promoted  my  captain 
of  the  hold  to  be  skipper,  although  he  was  ill,  in  order  that 
he  might  assist  me  somewhat,  as  far  as  his  strength 
allowed,  because  I  was  myself  then  quite  miserable  and 
abandoned  by  all  the  world,  as  everybody  may  imagine. 

In  the  night  following,  died  Hans  JBendtsen. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  died  my  servant,  OllufT  Andersen, 
who,  during  seven  years,  had  served  me  faithfully  and  well. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  died  Peder  Amundsen,  who  had 
been  long  ill  and  was  quite  wasted  away. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  we  had  fine  sunshine,  with  an 
easterly  wind.  On  this  day,  we  got  three  ptarmigan,  of 
which  we  were  very  glad. 

On  the  2 1st  of  April,  the  sunshine  was  beautiful ;  where- 
fore some  of  the  sick  crawled  forth  from  their  berths  in  order 
to  warm  themselves  by  the  sun.  But  as  they  were  so  very 
weak,  some  of  them  swooned,  so  that  it  did  not  do  them 
any  good;  and  I  had  enough  to  do  before  I  got  them  back 
again,  each  to  his  berth.  On  the  same  day,  towards 
evening,  we  obtained  two  Birckhons,1  of  which  we  stood 
in  great  need  in  order  to  get  something  fresh  for  our 
comfort  ;    which    was    due    to    God's    special    providence, 

1  This  name  is  probably  meant  for  the  Black  Grouse  ( Tetrao  tetrix)  ; 
but,  as  that  species  does  not  occur  in  North  America,  the  birds  in 
question  must  have  belonged  to  some  similar  species,  probably  the 
Canada  G rouse  {Dendragopus  canadensis). 


WINTERING    IN    PORT    CHURCHILL.  45 

because  the  sick  could  not  eat  any  of  the  salted  meat,  but 
only  broth  of  such  fresh  meat  as  we  obtained. 

On  the  22nd  of  April,  in  the  afternoon,  I  had  a  bath 
prepared  in  which  we  all,  as  many  as  were  strong  enough 
to  move,  bathed,  and   it  did   us  good. 

On  the  24th  of  April,  died  Olluff  Sundmoer,  who  was 
mate  to  the  captain  of  the  hold. 

On  the  25th  of  April,  the  wild  geese  began  to  arrive  ; 
at  which  we  were  delighted,  hoping  that  the  summer  would 
now  soon  come  ;  but,  in  this  expectation,  we  were  disap- 
pointed, for  the  cold   lasted   on   much   longer. 

On  the  27th  of  April,  there  was  a  sharp  frost  at  night 
and  a  southerly  wind.  We  felt  the  cold  weather  of  these 
days  more  acutely  than  any  other,  and  it  caused  us  much 
hurt  and  weakness.  On  the  same  day,  died  Halffword 
Bronnie,  who  had  lain  ill  more  than  two  months  ;  and  it 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  I  got  his  body  buried. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  died  Morten  Nielsen,  butler,  and 
Thoer  Thonsberg  ;  and  it  was  with  great  trouble  that  we 
four  persons  who  were  still  able  to  move  about  a  little 
managed  to  bury  their  bodies. 

May  3rd  and  4th.  During  all  these  days,  not  a  man 
left  his  berth  save  myself  and  the  under-cook,  who 
still  could  do  a  little.  On  the  last  of  the  days  mentioned, 
died  Anders  Marstrand  and  Morten  Marstrand,  boatswain's 
mate,  who  had  both  long  been  ill. 

On  the  6th  of  May,  Johan  Watzen,1  the  English  mate, 
who  was  the  fourth  mate  I  had,  died.  The  bodies  of  the 
last-mentioned  dead  were  left  some  days,  because  the  cold 
was  so  sharp  and  severe  that  none  of  us  three  poor  men 
who  still  had  a  little  strength  left,  could  get  them  buried. 

On  the  7th  of  May,  the  weather  became  milder,  and 
we  managed  to  bury  the  dead  ;    but,  on   account  of  our 

1  John  Watson,  the  second  English  pilot. 


46  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

extreme  weakness,  it  was  so  difficult  for  us  that  we  could 
not  carry  the  dead  bodies  to  their  burial  in  any  other  way 
than  by  dragging  them  on  a  little  sledge  which  had  been 
used  in  the  winter  for  the  transport  of  wood.1 

May  ioth.  These  foregoing  days,  we  had  very  severe 
cold  and  frost,  which  greatly  weakened  and  hindered  us  ; 
but,  on  this  day,  the  weather  was  fine  and  mild,  and  great 
numbers  of  geese  arrived  ;  we  got  one  of  them,  which 
sufficed  us  for  two  meals.  We  were,  at  that  time,  eleven 
persons  alive,  counting  the  sick. 

On  the  nth  of  May,  it  was  very  cold,  so  that  we  all 
remained  quietly  in  our  berths  that  day  ;  because,  in  our 
extreme  weakness,  we  could  not  stand  any  cold,  our  limbs 
being  paralyzed  and,  as  it  were,  crushed  by  the  cold. 

On  the  1 2th  of  May,  died  Jens  Jorgensen,  carpenter,  and 
Suend  Marstrand  ;  and  God  knows  what  misery  we  suffered 
before  we  got  their  bodies  buried.  These  were  the  last 
that  were  buried  in  the  ground. 

On  the  1 6th  of  May,  it  was  very  cold  indeed.  Then  died 
the  skipper,  Jens  Hendrichsen  ;  and  his  body  had  to 
remain    unburied. 

On  the  19th  of  May,  died  Erich  Hansen  Li,  who, 
throughout  the  voyage,  had  been  very  industrious  and 
willing,  and  had  neither  offended  anyone  nor  deserved 
any  punishment.  He  had  dug  many  graves  for  others,  but 
now  there  was  nobody  that  could  dig  his,  and  his  body 
had  to  remain  unburied. 

On  the  2cth  of  May,  the  weather  was  fine  and  mild  and 
the  wind  southerly.  It  was  a  great  grief  to  us  that,  whilst 
God  gave  such  an  abundance  of  various  kinds  of  birds, 
none  of  us  was  strong  enough  to  go  into  the  country  and 
shoot  some  of  them. 


1  The  incident  of  the  sledge  being  used  for  burials  is  represented 
in  the  centre  of  the  second  woodcut  (facing  page  23). 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  47 

On  the  2 1st  of  May,  we  had  beautiful  clear  sunshine  ; 
and  I  and  three  others,  though  with  great  difficulty,  went 
on  shore,  where  we  made  a  fire,  and  anointed  our  joints 
with  bear's  grease.  In  the  evening,  I  and  one  other  went 
on  board  again. 

On  the  22nd  of  May,  the  sunshine  was  as  fine  and  warm 
as  anyone  could  wish  from  God  ;  and,  by  Divine  Provi- 
dence, a  goose,  which,  three  or  four  days  before,  had  had  a 
leg  shot  oft  came  near  to  the  ship.  We  caught  and 
cooked  it,  and  we  had  food  for  two  days  off  it. 

As  regards  the  birds  which  occur  in  this  country : 
specimens  of  various  kinds  had  arrived  during  the  last 
week  :  viz.  all  kinds  of  Geese,  Swans,  Ducks  of  all  kinds, 
Terns,  Southern  Pewits,  Swallows,  Snipes  (a  very  good  and 
toothsome  bird).  Gulls  of  all  kinds,  Falcons,  Ravens, 
Ptarmigans,  Eagles. 

May  28th.  During  these  days,  there  was  nothing 
particular  to  write  about,  except  that  we  seven  miserable 
persons,  who  were  still  lying  there  alive,  looked  mournfully 
at  each  other,  hoping  every  day  that  the  snow  would  thaw 
and  the  ice  drift  away. 

As  regards  the  symptoms  and  peculiarities  of  the 
illness  which  had  fallen  upon  us  :  it  was  a  rare  and  extra- 
ordinary one.  Because  all  the  limbs  and  joints  were  so 
miserably  drawn  together,  with  great  pains  in  the  loins,  as  if 
a  thousand  knives  were  thrust  through  them.  The  body  at 
the  same  time  was  blue  and  brown,  as  when  one  gets  a  black 
eye,  and  the  whole  body  was  quite  powerless.  The  mouth, 
also,  was  in  a  very  bad  and  miserable  condition,  as  all  the 
teeth  were  loose,  so  that  we  could  not  eat  any  victuals.1 

During  these  days,  when  we  were  lying  in  bed  so 
altogether  bad,  there  died  Peder  Nyborg,  carpenter,  Knud 
Lauritzsen   Skudenes,  and   Jorgen,  the  cook's  boy,  all  of 

1  The  disease  was  undoubtedly  scurvy. 


48  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

whom  remained  on  the  steerage  ;  for  there  was  then  nobody 
that  could  bury  their  bodies  or  throw  them  overboard. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  which  was  Whit-Sunday,  there 
remained  alive  only  three  besides  myself,  all  lying  down, 
unable  to  help  one  another.  The  stomach  was  ready 
enough  and  had  appetite  for  food,  but  the  teeth  would 
not  allow  it  ;  and  not  one  of  us  had  the  requisite  strength 
for  going  into  the  hold  to  fetch  us  a  drink  of  wine.  The 
cook's  boy  lay  dead  by  my  berth,  and  three  men  on  the 
steerage  ;  two  men  were  on  shore,  and  would  gladly  have 
been  back  on  the  ship,  but  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  get 
there,  as  they  had  not  sufficient  strength  in  their  limbs  to 
help  themselves  on  board,  so  that  both  they  and  I  were 
lying  quite  exhausted,  as  we  had  now  for  four  entire  days 
had  nothing  for  the  sustenance  of  the  body.  Accordingly, 
I  did  not  now  hope  for  anything  but  that  God  would  put 
an  end  to  this  my  misery  and  take  me  to  Himself  and  His 
Kingdom  :  and,  thinking  that  it  would  have  been  the  last 
I  wrote  in  this  world,  I  penned  a  writing  as  follows  : — 

INASMUCH  as  I  have  now  no  more  hope  of  life  in  this 
world,  I  request,  for  the  sake  of  God,  if  any  Christian 
men  should  happen  to  come  here,  that  they  will  bury  in  the 
earth  my  poor  body,  together  with  the  others  which  are 
found  here,  expecting  their  reward  from  God  in  Heaven  : 
and,  furthermore,  that  this  my  journal  maybe  forwarded  to 
my  most  gracious  Lord  and  King  (for  every  word  that  is 
found  herein  is  altogether  truthful)  in  order  that  my  poor 
wife  and  children  may  obtain  some  benefit  from  my  great 
distress  and  miserable  death.  Herewith,  good-night  to  all 
the  world  ;  and  my  soul  into  the  hand  of  God,  etc. 

Jens  Munck. 

JUNE  the  8th.     As  I  could  not  now  any  more  stand  the 
bad  smell  and  stench  from  the  dead  bodies,  which  had 
remained  in  the  ship  for  some  time,  I  managed,  as  best  I 


WINTERING    IN    PORT   CHURCHILL.  49 

could,  to  get  out  of  the  berth  (which  no  doubt  was  due  to 
God's  fatherly  Providence,  He  being  willing  still  to  spare  my 
life),  considering  that  it  would  not  matter  where,  or  among 
what  surroundings,  I  died — whether  outside,  amongst  the 
others  that  were  lyingdead,or  remaining  in  the  berth.  When, 
by  the  assistance  of  God,  I  had  come  out  of  the  cabin,  I 
spent  that  night  on  the  deck,  using  the  clothes  of  the  dead. 
But,  next  day,  when  the  two  men  who  were  on  shore  saw 
me  and  perceived  that  I  was  still  alive — I,  on  my  part,  had 
thought  that  they  were  dead  long  ago — they  came  out  on 
the  ice  to  the  ship,  and  assisted  me  in  getting  down  from  the 
ship  to  the  land,  together  with  the  clothes  which  I  threw 
to  them  ;  for  the  ship  was  not  farther  from  the  shore  than 
about  twelve  or  fourteen  fathoms.  For  some  time,  we  had 
our  dwelling  on  shore  under  a  bush,  as  may  be  seen  on  the 
accompanying  plate1  ;  and  there  we  made  a  fire  in  the 
day  time.  Later  on,  we  crawled  about  everywhere  near, 
wherever  we  saw  the  least  green  growing  out  of  the  ground, 
which  we  dug  up  and  sucked  the  main  root  thereof.  This 
benefited  us,  and,  as  the  warmth  now  commenced  to 
increase  nicely,  we  began  to  recover. 

While  we  thus  continued  on  shore,  the  sailmaker,  who 
before  had  been  extremely  weak,  died  in  the  ship. 

June  1 8th.  When  the  ice  drifted  away  from  the  ship,  we 
got  a  net  for  catching  flounders  out  of  the  sloop  ;  and,  when 
the  ebb  had  run  out  one  quarter,  we  went  out  dryshod  and 
set  it.  When  the  flood  returned,  God  gave  us  six  large 
trout,  which  I  cooked  myself,  while  the  two  others  went 
on  board  Lamprenen  to  fetch  wine,  which  we  had  not  tasted 
for  a  long  time,  none  of  us  having  had  an  appetite  for  it. 

As  we  now  thus  every  day  got  fresh  fish  which  was  well 
cooked,  it  comforted  us  much,  although  we  could  not  eat 
any  of  the  fish,  but  only  the  broth,  with  which  we  drank 


1  See  the  centre  of  the  woodcut  facing  p.  23,  near  the  top. 

4 


50  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

wine,  so  that  by  degrees  we  recovered  somewhat.  At  last, 
we  got  a  gun  on  shore  and  shot  birds,  from  which  we 
obtained  much  refreshment  ;  so  that,  day  by  day,  we  got 
stronger  and  fairly  well  in  health. 

June  26th.  In  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  after  prayer  and 
supplication  to  God  for  good  fortune  and  counsel,  we  now 
set  to  work  to  bring  Lamprenen  alongside  Enhiorningen} 
and  worked  as  diligently  as  we  could  in  getting  sails 
ready  for  us.  But  herein  we  encountered  a  great  difficulty 
and  much  anxiety,  because  Lamprenen  stood  high  on  the 
shore,  having  been  carried  up  by  the  winter's  flood.  We 
were  consequently  obliged  first  to  unload  all  that  was 
in  her,  and  then  to  look  out  for  a  high  spring  tide  in  order 
to  haul  her  out.  In  this  we  succeeded,  and  brought  her 
alongside  EnJiiorningen.  When  we  got  on  board  Enhior- 
ningen^  we  were  obliged  first  of  all  to  throw  overboard  the 
dead  bodies,  which  were  then  quite  decomposed,  as  we 
could  not  move  about  or  do  anything  there  for  bad  smell 
and  stench,  and  yet  were  under  the  necessity  of  taking  out 
of  Enhiorningen  and  placing  on  board  Lamprenen  victuals 
and  other  necessaries  for  our  use  in  crossing  the  sea,  as  far 
as  we  three  persons  could  manage. 

On  the  1 6th  of  July,  which  was  Sunday,  in  the  afternoon, 
we  set  sail  from  there  in  the  name  of  God.  At  that  time, 
it  was  as  warm  in  that  country  as  it  might  have  been  in 
Denmark,  and  the  cloudberries  were  in  bud.  There  was 
such  a  quantity  of  gnats  that  in  calm  weather  they  were 
unbearable.  A  quantity  of  rain  also  fell  every  day  at  this 
time  of  the  year.  Before  setting  out  from  there,  I  drilled 
two  or  three  holes  in  Enhiorningen^  in  order  that  the  water 
which  might  be  in  the  ship  might  remain  when  the  ebb 
was  half  out,  so  that  the  ship  should  always  remain  firm 


1  The  former,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  hauled  on  shore 
^see  p.  26). 


HOMEWARD   VOYAGE.  5  I 

on  the  ground,  whatever  ice  might  come,1  as  is  to  be 
seen  on  this  plate.2  And  I  have  called  the  same  harbour 
after  myself,  Jens  MuNCKES  Bay.  All  that  has  hap- 
pened  here  is  found   depicted  in  this  plate.3  *J< 

On  the  17th  of  July,  towards  evening,  I  met  much  ice,  and 
I  stood  off  and  on  in  front  of  the  ice  ;  but,  in  the  course  of 
the  night,  the  weather  being  calm  and  misty,  we  stuck  firm 
in  the  -ice.  I  then  let  go  the  boat  of  Enhiorningen,  which 
I  had  taken  in  tow  for  the  purpose  of  having  it  for  use  if 
I  should  come  near  to  land  anywhere. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  we  were  altogether  drifting  with 
the  ice,  when  a  large  white  bear  came  close  to  the  ship. 
When  he  saw  us,  he  took  to  flight  across  the  ice  and 
through  the  water,  followed  by  a  large  dog  I  had  with  me, 
which  strayed  from  the  vessel  in  consequence,  and  never 
returned,  though  a  couple  of  days  after  we  could  still  hear 
him  howl.  I  guessed  that  we  were  then  about  40  miles 
from  land.4 

On  the  22nd  of  July,  there  was  a  severe  gale,  so  that 
the  ship  drifted  with  great  speed  ;  and,  each  time 
it  struck  against  the  ice,  it  was  as  if  it  had  struck  against 
a  rock  ;  at  that  time,  the  ice  broke  my  rudder ;  and, 
if  I  had  not  succeeded  in  throwing  a  grapnel  on  to  a  large 
mass  of  ice,  by  which  I  could  turn  the  ship,  so  as  to  prevent 


1  At  this  point,  Munk's  original  MS.,  preserved  at  Copenhagen, 
ends. 

2  The  word  in  the  original  is  Kort,  which  would  ordinarily  mean 
"a  map";  but  it  is  used  by  Munk  as  signifying  a  drawing.  There 
is,  however,  no  illustration  on  the  woodcut  of  the  harbour  illustrating 
the  measures  taken  for  the  safety  of  the  ship. 

3  The  reference  is  to  the  woodcut  marked  with  a  cross  and  facing 
page  23. 

4  Munk's  miles  being  ancient  Danish  sea-miles  (see  p.  7,  n.  2), 
there  must  be  some  mistake  in  this  figure,  but  we  have  no  means  of 
correcting  it. 

42 


52  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

her  from  drifting  too  fast,  both  the  ship  and  we  would  have 
been  lost  that  day. 

On  the  24th  and  the  25th  of  July,  we  continued  drifting 
in  the  ice,  made  fast  to  an  iceberg  in  order  that  the  ship 
should  not  drift  so  fast  and  suffer  too  much  damage. 

On  the  26th  of  July,  we  got  clear  of  the  ice.  I  then  tried 
an  easterly  direction,  between  the  ice  and  the  southern 
land,  and  found  sandy  bottom  in  38  fathoms,  and  then  kept 
beating  to  and  fro;  but  I  did  not  succeed1  in  getting 
through  that  way. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  in  the  afternoon,  I  again  fell  in  with 
the  boat  of  Enhiorningen,  which  I  was  obliged  to  let  go 
ten  days  before,  when  first  I  was  caught  in  the  ice. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  I  kept  tacking  between  the  ice  and 
the  land,  from  10  and  15  fathoms  back  to  the  ice  again  in 
45,  46,  and  48  fathoms  ;  and  then  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  vain  to  hope  to  get  past  the  ice  on  the  southern 
side. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  I  stood  North-West  again. 

On  the  30th  of  July,  I  became  again  fixed  in  the  ice, 
the  fog  being  so  thick  that  it  was  difficult  to  exercise 
sufficient  vigilance. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  I  got  free  of  the  ice  again  and 
sailed  North- West  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  the  wind 
became  so  high  that  I  took  in  the  foresail  and  let  her  drift 
with  one  sail. 

On  August  the  4th,  I  sailed  on  between  the  ice  and  the 
land  to  the  West. 

On  the  5th  of  August,  the  ice  came  against  me  so 
strongly  in  the  night  that  I  was  obliged  to  come  into 
12  fathoms  before  I  could  double  that  strip  of  ice;  and 


1  The  corresponding  word  in  the  original  is  formodet  (supposed), 
which  does  not  seem  to  give  sense.  We  therefore  suspect  it  to  be  a 
misprint  for  formaaede,  and  have  translated  accordingly. 


HOMEWARD   VOYAGE.  53 

it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  ice  drifts,  following  the  direction 
of  the  shore,  principally  towards  the  South. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  I  came  again  into  deep  water  in 
45  fathoms,  and  then  steered  East-North-East,  without 
observing  any  ice. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  I  sailed  40  miles  in  24  hours, 
East-North-East. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  I  had  sailed  38  miles,  when  the 
wind  shifted  to  the  East,  with  a  sharp  frost. 

August  10th.  A  heavy  gale  from  the  East,  compelling 
us  to  lie  by,  with  cold,  fog,  and  frost. 

On  nth  of  August,  the  weather  was  changeable;  the 
wind  somewhat  easterly.  I  stood  to  the  North  and, 
at  daybreak,  made  the  mainland  on  the  North-Side,  called 
the  Kolde  Hug,  which  is  in  62  J  degrees.1  Here  I  found  the 
bottom  in  20  fathoms,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
shore.  From  the  southernmost  point,  the  coast  trends 
North-East,  being  flat  land  without  forest  ;  and  I  steered 
East-North-East,  about  five  miles  from  the  land.  In  40 
fathoms,  the  bottom  is  hard  and  stony. 

On  the  1 2th  of  August,  I  sailed  East-North-East,  with 
a  light  breeze. 

On  the  13th  of  August,  in  the  morning  early,  I  arrived 
off  the  North-East  point  of  Digses  Eyland?  where  much 
ice  was  encountered  near  the  land.  Towards  the  South, 
this  land  is  low  and  flat,  and  the  Eastern  point  is  in  63 
degrees  3     For  a  night  and  a  day,  we  stood  off  and  on,  on 


1  The  statement  at  the  beginning  of  this  entry  refers  to  the  small 
hours  of  the  night  between  the  10th  and  the  nth.  Munk  reckoned 
his  days,  for  the  purpose  of  his  journal,  from  midnight  to  midnight. 
The  point  at  which  he  arrived  at  daybreak  {Kolde  Hug)  can  only 
have  been  Cary's  Swans  Nest,  on  Coats  Island,  though  the  latitude 
is  a  little  too  high. 

2  That  is,  Mansfield  Island  (see  p.  22,  n.). 

3  For  explanation  of  this  statement,  see  the  Commentary. 


54  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

account  of  much  ice  meeting  us,  which  we  could  not  get 
through. 

August  14th.  In  the  morning,  when  I  found  myself  so 
much  beset  with  ice  on  all  sides,  and  the  land  on  both 
sides  close  to  me,  I  took  in  the  mainsail  and,  with  the 
foresail,  worked  myself  through  the  ice  where  it  was 
thinnest.  Towards  noon,  I  came  into  clear  water.  I  then 
observed  to  starboard  some  high  islands,  South-West  from 
me,  and  then  I  steered  East-South-East.  The  two  islands 
were  Sosteren,  which  are  indicated  on  the  map,  and  were 
to  port  when  I  sailed  home.  The  others  are  called  lisver, 
situated  under  the  mainland  to  starboard  when  I  sailed 
home.  And  this  is  the  entrance  to  Fretum  Christian 
coming  from  Novo  Mari.1 

On  the  15th  of  August,  I  found  already  much  ice  in 
that  channel  between  the  lands,  though  scattered,  so  that 
it  was  nothing  but  "luff  on"  and  "hold  firm  the  grapnel".2 
Much  snow  fell,  and  the  wild  geese  commenced  briskly  to 
fly  south  again. 

August  1 6th.  I  found  myself  under  the  northern  coast 
of  Fretum  CJiristian,  or  Huttsom  Strait,  and  then  shaped 
my  course  East  by  South,  which  was  South-East-by-East 
according  to  a  true  course. 

On  the  17th  of  August,  the  wind  was  North- Westerly, 
and  I  steered  South-East,  according  to  a  true  course, 
allowance  being  made  for  the  variation.     That  night,  we 


1  The  questions  here  arising  out  of  Munk's  description  of  his  course 
are  fully  discussed  in  the  Commentary.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that 
he  passed  from  Hudson's  Bay  {Novum  Mare)  into  Hudson's  Strait 
{Fretum  Christian)  through  the  narrow  channel  between  the  Digges 
Islands  (the  Soster)  and  the  main-land. 

2  The  meaning  of  this  passage,  which  we  have  translated  literally, 
is  that  those  orders  had  to  be  repeated  continually,  whenever  they 
overtook  a  large  ice-floe.  The  proceeding  is  described  in  the 
Commentary. 


HOMEWARD   VOYAGE.  55 

had  much  fog  and  cold  ;  but,  in  the  daytime,  fine  sunshine 
and  nice  weather. 

August  1 8th.  Until  noon,  fog  and  westerly  wind  ; 
and  towards  evening,  we  sighted  Munckenes}  From  this 
cape,  the  coast  trends,  on  this  northern  side,  northerly 
towards  Fretum  Davis,  and  inwards  towards  Fretum 
Christian,  North-West-half-North. 

On  the  19th  of  August,  we  had  a  strong  westerly  wind 
and  thick  weather.  We  sailed  in  those  24  hours  40  miles  ; 
and,  in  places,  large  icebergs  were  drifting. 

On  the  20th  of  August,  there  was  a  nice  moderate 
breeze,  and  we  sailed  then   30  miles. 

August  21st.  All  night  rain,  with  a  North-East  wind  ; 
in  the  daytime,  a  stiff  breeze ;  and  we  sailed  in  those 
24  hours  20  miles. 

August  22nd.  In  these  24  hours,  we  sailed,  with  the 
mainsail   and  a  stiff  breeze,  36  miles. 

On  the  23rd  of  August,  we  sailed  27  miles  ;  and  our 
latitude  was  58  degrees  and  44  minutes.  On  the  same 
day,  towards  evening,  the  wind  fell  off,  fortunately  enough, 
because  I  was  obliged  to  take  up  and  woold  my  pump, 
which  did  not  work  properly. 

August  24th.  A  gale  from  the  East.  During  these  24 
hours,  we  sailed  South-South-East,  about  20  miles ;  and  at 
noon  we  steered  northwards. 

On  the  25th,  26th,  and  27th  of  August,  it  was  altogether 
calm. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  we  got  a  good  North-West  wind 
again,  and  our  course  was  East-by-North  ;  but  the  wind 
shifted  to  North  with  a  gale,  so  that  we  had  to  take  in  all 
our  sails,  and  the  pump  did  not  forget  us. 

On   the    31st   of  August,  we  set   sail  again,  but   only 


Probably  Hatton's  Headland  (see  p.  10,  n.). 


56  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

the  small  mainsail  ;  and  we  had  nothing  but  tempest 
and  bad  weather. 

September  ist.     Before  a  wind  which  could  move  men.1 

September  2nd  and  3rd.  Again  storm  and  tempest 
from  the  South-East.  Towards  evening,  we  were  obliged  to 
take  in  the  sails  altogether  and  to  lie-to,  working  the  pump. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  we  had  tremendous  rain  and 
wind,  amounting  to  a  gale,  and  we  could  not  at  all  leave 
the  pump.  Towards  the  evening,  the  wind  commenced  to 
be  more  favourable  ;  and,  as  we  were  quite  exhausted  with 
pumping,  we  drifted  the  whole  night  without  sails,  in  order 
to  get  some  rest,  as  far  as  the  pump  would  allow  of  it. 

September  the  5th.  At  noon,  1  observed  in  58  degrees 
59  min.  The  wind  was  westerly,  with  rain  and  rather  a 
rough  sea. 

September  6th.  All  night,  the  wind  was  light ;  in  the 
morning,  the  wind  commenced  to  fall  off. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  I  observed  in  59  degrees  15 
minutes.  There  was  a  nice  moderate  breeze.  We  triced 
up  the  tack  ;  but,  early  in  the  day,  the  wind  fell  off  again. 

September  8th.  I  observed  in  60  degrees  19  minutes. 
The  wind  was  again  a  little  to  the  West,  but  light. 

On  the  9th,  10th,  and  nth  of  September,  we  had  all 
kinds  of  wind  and  foggy  weather  ;  but,  in  the  evening, 
towards  night,  a  gale  sprang  up,  and  our  foresail  was  torn 
from  the  bolt-rope,  so  that  we  three  men  had  plenty  to  do 
to  get  it  in,  and  then  the  ship  was  half  full  of  water. 


1  We  give  this  as  the  most  probable  literal  rendering  of  the  words 
in  the  original :  Deii  1  Septemb.  For  en  Vind  huad  men  Kunde 
berbre,  and  we  take  the  sense  of  this  obscure  passage  to  be  that  they 
sailed  on  before  a  wind  strong  enough  to  blow  a  man  off  his  legs.  At 
the  same  time,  it  must  be  admitted  that  berore  in  Danish  does  not 
(at  least,  nowadays)  mean  to  move,  but  only  to  touch.  The  corres- 
ponding word  in  Low  German,  however,  is  used  in  that  sense,  and 
there  are  a  few  other  touches  of  Low  German  in  the  text. 


HOMEWARD  VOYAGE.  57 

September  12th.  In  the  course  of  the  night,  the  wind 
shifted  to  the  West  and  blew  hard  ;  .our  topsail-sheet  was 
blown  to  pieces,  the  topmast-stay  broken  asunder,  and  the 
great  parrel  too  ;  so  that  it  was  very  anxious  work  for  us 
three. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  I  conjectured  ourselves  to  be 
in  the  longitude  of  Hethland1 ;  and  we  then  descried  a 
ship,  to  which  at  last  we  approached  so  near  that  we  could 
speak  to  the  people  on  board  ;  and  I  requested  them  to 
assist  me  ;  but,  though  I  got  alongside  him  twice,  he  could 
not  help  me,  because  the  wind  was  too  high. 

On  the  14th  of  September,  we  made  the  Orkney  Islands. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  we  passed  the  Orkney 
Islands,  and  the  wind  shifted  entirely  to  the  South-East. 

On  the  1 6th  of  September,  we  sailed  20  miles,  steering 
East  by  North,  towards  Norway,  as  near  to  the  wind  as 
possible. 

On  the  17th  of  September,  we  continued  to  sail  East  by 
North. 

On  the  1 8th  of  September,  I  changed  the  course  to  a 
more  southerly  one  in  the  20th  glass.2 

September  19th.  Compelled  to  lie-to  all  day  during 
a  gale. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  we  saw  Norway. 

On  the  2 1  st  of  September,  we  came  to  harbour  South 
of  Allen3  in  a  flying  gale,  not  knowing  the  locality. 
When  I  had  come  inside  the  rocky  islands  into  a  large 
fjord,4  I   could    find    no   anchorage,  and    was    obliged    all 


1  Shetland  (see  p.  6,  n.). 

2  The   old   sand-glasses   ran   for    half-an-hour.       Twenty   glasses 
would,  therefore,  mean  10  o'clock. 

3  A  small   island,  generally  called   Alden,  on  the  west  coast  of 
Norway. 

4  Probably  the   outer  part  of   Dalsfjord,  which   is  just  north   of 
Sognefjord. 


58  NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS. 

day  to  beat  to  and  fro  inside  the  rocks,  because  I 
had  only  half  an  anchor.  Towards  evening,  when  I  saw 
that  nobody  came  out,  I  steered  into  a  bay,  where  I 
dropped  that  half  of  an  anchor,  and  thus  remained,  without 
being  moored,  as  I  had  no  boat  wherewith  to  carry  a  hawser 
on  shore.  Late  in  the  evening,  a  peasant  came  there  by 
accident  ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  threaten  him  with  a  gun 
to  make  him  come  and  assist  me  in  getting  a  hawser  on 
shore.  In  the  morning,  I  at  once  proceeded  in  the  same 
boat  to  His  Majesty's  bailiff  in  Sundfiord,1  and  requested 
him  to  procure  fresh  victuals  and  men  that  could  run  the 
ship  into  Bergen. 

As  I  now  had  seen  the  ship  safe,  and  had  returned  into  a 
Christian  country,  we  poor  men  could  not  hold  our  tears 
for  great  joy,  and  thanked  God  that  He  had  graciously 
granted  us  this  happiness. 

On  the  25th  of  September,  I  came  myself  to  Bergen, 
and  went  at  once  to  physicians  to  obtain  advice  and 
remedies.  I  also  ordered  at  once  drink  and  medicine  to  be 
prepared  and  forwarded  to  my  two  men  by  the  hands  of  a 
skipper  whom  I  sent  to  the  ship  to  take  care  of  it  in  my 
place. 

On  the  27th  of  September,  I  wrote  home  to  Denmark, 
to  the  High  Authorities,  to  report  that  I  had  arrived  there. 

1  Properly  spelt  Sondfjord,  which  is  the  name  of  the  district  in 
which  Dalsfjord  is  situated. 


THANKSGIVING.  59 


ALMIGHTY  AND  ETERNAL 
GOD,  Gracious  Father,  and  Heavenly 
Lord,  Who  has  commanded  us  to  call 
upon  Thee  in  all  necessity  and  ad- 
versity, and  also  dost  promise,  that 
Thou  wilt  graciously  hear  our  prayer 
and  save  us,  so  that  we  may  thank 
Thee  for  Thy  loving-kindness  and 
Thy  wonderful  acts,  which  Thou  doest  towards  the 
children  of  men  :  I  have  now,  on  this  long  and  perilous 
journey,  been  in  danger  and  necessity,  in  which  I 
have  nevertheless  experienced  Thy  gracious  help  and 
assistance,  in  that  Thou  hast  saved  me  from  the  ice- 
bergs, in  dreadful  storms,  and  from  the  foaming  sea. 
Thou  wast  my  highest  pilot,  counselor,  guide,  and 
compass.  Thou  hast  led  and  accompanied  me,  both 
going  and  coming.  Thou  hast  led  me  out  of  anxiety, 
disease,  and  sickness,  so  that  by  Thy  help  I  have  regained 
my  health,  and  have  returned  to  my  native  country, 
which  I  entirely  believe  to  be  Thy  doing.  Nor  has  it  been 
accomplished  by  my  own  understanding  or  providence, 
wherefore  I  humbly  and  heartily  give  thanks  to  Thee,  O 
Thou  my  gracious  Father.  And  I  pray  that  Thou  wilt 
give  me  the  grace  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  that  I  may  hence- 
forth be  found  thankful  to  Thee  in  word  and  deed,  to  Thy 
honour  and  glory,  and  for  the  confirmation  of  my  faith  with 
a  good  conscience.  To  Thee,  O  Holy  Trinity,  be  Praise 
and  Thanksgiving  for  ever,  for  these  and  all  Thy  benefits. 

To  Thee  alone  belongs  all  Power  and  Glory 
for  ever  and  ever. 

Amen. 

Isaiah,  Chap.  xliv. 

Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee.  When  thou  passes t 
through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee,  that  the  rivers  shall 
not  drown  thee} 


1  The  passage  is  Isaiah  xliii,  i,  2.    The  translation  is  in  accordance 
with  that  of  Luther,  slightly  differing  from  the  English  version. 


COMMENTARY 

ON 

JENS    MUNK'S 
NAVIGATIO     SEPTENTRIONALIS. 


I. — Observations  on  the  Text. 

On  Munk's  Manuscript. 

We  have  already  mentioned  (p.  lvii)  that  Munk's  original  manu- 
script of  the  greater  part  of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  is 
still  in  existence.  Previous  editors  of  Munk's  book  have  paid 
little  or  no  attention  to  this  manuscript ;  but  it  is  in  reality  of 
great  interest  and  of  considerable  importance  for  the  proper  under- 
standing of  the  printed  text.  As  we  shall,  therefore,  have  to  refer 
to  it  frequently  in  the  course  of  this  Commentary,  we  may  suitably 
preface  the  latter  with  a  description  of  it. 

The  manuscript  of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  belongs  to  the 
University  Library  at  Copenhagen  (MS.  Additamenta,  No.  184). 
It  is  written  in  a  small  quarto  book  of  50  leaves,  measuring 
7}  in.  by  7  in.,  and  bound  in  a  limp  parchment  cover.  On  the 
front  of  the  cover  are  these  words  :  Captien  Jens  Munks 
Beschrifning  om  den  Reise  16 19  (Captain  Jens  Munk's  Description 
of  the  Voyage  in  161 9).  Near  the  top  of  the  cover  are  written  a 
few  lines,,  which  are  difficult  to  decipher  on  account  of  the  ink 
not  having  adhered  to  the  smooth  surface  ;  but  what  is  legible 
reads  thus  in  English  :  "  The  14th  ....  Mr.  Rasmus  has 
said  ....  the  world  has  been  standing  less  than  six  thousand 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  6l 

years,  and  ....  Master  Gordon  says  that  the  world  has  been 
standing  more  than  six  thousand  years,  and  .  .  .  ."  On  the 
inside  of  the  cover,  the  two  first  verses  of  the  91st  Psalm  are 
written  in  Danish.  Near  the  top  of  the  first  page  is  the  following 
heading  :  En  liden  Memorial  Paa  Nogelle  Synderlige  stoker  att 
Komess  i  Hu  som  Navigationen  vedt  Kommer  (A  little  memorandum 
of  some  particular  matters  to  be  remembered  concerning  the 
navigation).  A  line  has,  however,  been  drawn  through  this 
heading,  and  another  title  written  underneath,  as  follows : 
Beskriffuelse  Om  Jenss  Munckes  Reyse  som  hand  Anno  1619 
begyndte  Den  9  Mai  Paa  den  Nordnest  Passasie,  Kiena  att 
Vpsoge,  och  huad  Sig  Paa  Same  Reyse  haffr  tildraget  (An 
account  of  the  voyage  of  Jens  Munk,  which  he  commenced  in  the 
year  16 19,  on  the  9th  of  May,  to  the  North- West  Passage,  in 
order  to  find  a  way  to  China,  and  of  what  happened  on  the  same 
voyage).  Below  this  is  a  prayer  in  Danish,  apparently  a  daily 
Thanksgiving,  to  which  are  appended  these  words  in  Portuguese  : 
Acquen  na  gloria  quer  Emtrar  sempre  deue  de  comesar  Vida 
Noua  Vida  (To  whom  the  Glory.  From  the  commencement  of  life, 
one  ought  always  to  strive  to  enter  upon  the  New  Life).  On  the 
back  of  this  leaf,  nothing  is  written  except  an  addition  of  money  in 
Danish  currency.  On  the  front  of  the  second  leaf,  there  is  only 
a  quaint  prayer  of  Munk's  own  composition.1  The  reverse  of 
the  leaf  is  blank.  Near  the  top  of  the  third  leaf  are  these  words  : 
Reysen  begyndes  (The  voyage  is  commenced) ;  after  which  follow 
the  first  lines  of  the  text,  which  read  thus  in  English  : 

"  On  the  9th  of  May,  sailed  from  Copenhagen,  as  that  day  was 
a  Sunday. 

"  16th.  Sailed  out  of  the  Sound. 

"  1 8th.  In  the  morning  early,  as  one  of  my  crew  was 
walking,"  etc. 

1  The  following  is  a  translation  :  "  O,  Thou  Lamb  of  God  that 
bearest  the  sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  upon  us,  and  grant  us 
graciously  a  fair  wind,  and  speed  us  well  thither,  where  we  wish  to  be, 
so  that  His  Royal  Majesty's  expedition  and  voyage  may  be  well  per- 
formed ;  that  I  may  deserve  thanks,  and  have  the  good  will  of  my 
master  and  the  grace  of  God,  friendship  and  a  good  conscience  ;  that 
I  may  not  do  my  neighbour  any  hurt,  further  than  what  I  am  graciously 
commanded.  Be  with  me,  O  God,  in  all  my  ways,  and  be  always  my 
companion  and  true  guide,  for  the  sake  of  Thy  holy  name.     Amen." 


62  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

The  text  continues  from  fol.  3  to  the  front  page  of  fol.  49, 
at  the  foot  of  which  it  stops  abruptly  after  Munk's  statement 
about  the  measures  taken  for  the  safety  of  Enhiorningen  before 
leaving  the  place  where  they  had  wintered.  In  the  middle  of  the 
front  page  of  fol.  6  is  a  blank  space.  The  front  page  of  fol.  9, 
the  back  of  fol.  11,  the  back  of  fol.  13,  and  the  front  of  fol.  14, 
are  all  blank,  having  been  intended  (as  the  context  shows)  for 
the  insertion  of  illustrations.  On  the  front  page  of  fol.  28  is  a 
rough  outline,  intended  to  illustrate  the  appearance  of  three  suns, 
on  the  23rd  of  November  (see  p.  33).  Finally,  on  the  front  page 
of  fol.  30,  is  a  drawing  in  illustration  of  the  eclipse  of  the  moon 
which  occurred  on  the  10th  of  December,  16 19  (see  p.  34). 
On  the  back  of  fol.  43  commence  Munk's  notes  written  during  a 
cruise  in  the  North  Sea  in  1623  (see  p.  xlvi),  which  are  continued  to 
the  obverse  of  fol.  49.  On  the  remaining  three  pages  are  some 
accounts,  perhaps  not  written  by  Munk.  The  MS.  is  in  good 
condition,  and  bears  no  trace  of  having  been  in  the  printer's 
hands. 

From  this  description,  several  inferences  may  be  drawn.  The 
words  on  the  cover,  referring  to  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the 
chaplain  and  Gordon  about  the  age  of  the  world,  seem  to  prove 
that  Munk  actually  had  the  volume  with  him  in  Hudson's  Bay, 
as  he  would  scarcely  have  put  them  down  thus,  years  after 
the  death  of  these  men.  The  original  heading  near  the  top  of 
the  first  page  shows  clearly  that  the  volume  was  at  first  intended 
for  notes  on  the  navigation,  probably  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
referring  to  the  cruise  in  1623,  which  occupy  the  last  leaves  of 
it.  The  insertion  of  the  prayers  also  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
volume  was  intended  for  daily  use.  It  was  evidently  when  Munk 
changed  his  mind  and  utilised  the  volume  for  a  more  elaborate 
account  of  the  voyage,  that  he  substituted  a  new  and  more 
appropriate  title  for  the  original  one.  The  facts  that  the  manu- 
script of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  contained  in  this  book 
only  narrates  the  outward  voyage  and  the  wintering,  and  that 
the  remainder  of  the  volume  is  mostly  occupied  by  notes  on 
Munk's  cruise  in  the  North  Sea  in  1623,  lead  to  the  inference 
that  Munk  was  engaged  in  the  composition  of  his  book  in  the 
winter  and  early  spring  of  1622-23,  but  was  interrupted  by  the 
duties  devolving  upon  him  in  connection  with  the  fitting-out  of 
the  ships.     It  seems  that  he  took  the  volume  before   us  with 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  63 

him  on  board,  intending  to  continue  the  work  while  at  sea  ; 
but  that,  instead  of  doing  so,  he  made  use  of  the  remaining 
leaves  in  the  manner  stated.  That  he  did  not  afterwards 
continue  his  account  of  the  voyage  of  161 9  in  the  same  volume 
is  fully  explained  by  the  want  of  space. 

Several  blunders  prove  that  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  was 
not  printed  from  the  MS.  before  us,  but  from  a  copy  which 
must  have  contained  also  the  continuation  of  Munk's  account ; 
but  neither  this  nor  Munk's  original  log-book  are  now  known 
to  exist. 

The  fact  that,  in  many  places,  events  are  alluded  to  which 
happened  long  after  those  to  which  the  context  refers,  proves 
that  the  text  of  the  Navigatio  Septentrionalis  is  not  merely  an 
amplified  copy  of  what  Munk  may  have  written  down  on  the 
voyage,  day  by  day  ;  but  the  manner  in  which  Munk  has  worked 
up  his  material  is  not  everywhere  the  same.  In  some  parts,  he 
relates  the  events  in  detail,  as  they  happened,  under  their  re- 
spective dates,  sometimes  more  fully,  sometimes  so  briefly  that 
his  statements  appear  as  mere  transcripts  from  his  log-book,  in 
which,  now  and  then,  not  even  the  present  tense  of  the  verbs  has 
been  altered  to  the  past.  Other  portions,  on  the  contrary,  are 
very  much  condensed,  notably  his  account  of  the  voyage  from 
the  Faero  Islands  to  the  Continent  of  America,  between  the  4th  of 
June  and  the  8th  of  July,  during  which  time  only  two  dates  are 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  navigation  :  viz.,  June  20th  and 
30th  ;  and  that  of  the  voyage  from  Haresund  into  Ungava  Bay, 
up  Hudson's  Strait  and  across  Hudson's  Bay  to  Churchill  Har- 
bour, which  occupied  the  period  from  August  10th  to  September 
7th,  during  which  likewise  only  two  dates  are  mentioned :  viz., 
the  14th  and  the  20th  of  August.  In  these  portions,  Munk 
only  gives  a  summary  of  events,  introducing  isolated  extracts 
from  his  notes  by  means  of  the  word  Item. 

As  regards  the  relation  of  the  printed  text  to  the  MS.  (as  far  as 
it  reaches),  we  may  observe  in  general  that  the  former  differs 
from  the  latter,  not  only  in  its  more  correct  spelling  and  gram- 
matical construction,  but  also  in  being  more  or  less  amplified  in 
most  places.  We  have  no  means  of  deciding  with  certainty 
whether  this  is  due  to  Munk  himself  or  to  some  literary  "  im- 
prover", and  in  the  latter  case  to  what  extent ;  but  it  can  scarcely 
be  doubted  that  such  a  person  was  employed  to  write  up  some 


64  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to  parts.     The  contrast  between  the  grandiloquent  verbosity  of  the 
Text.      Title-page  and  the  Dedication  (which  are  not  found  in  the  raanu- 


~~  script)  and  the  simplicity  of  diction  prevailing  in  the  narrative 
itself,  is  too  glaring  to  allow  us  to  ascribe  those  portions  to  Munk 
himself.  A  comparison  between  the  printed  account  of  the 
departure  from  Denmark  and  Munk's  simple  statement  in  the 
manuscript,  as  quoted  above,  reveals  the  same  contrast ;  but  the 
rest  of  the  book  (except  a  few  passages)  agrees  so  much  better 
with  the  manuscript,  though  somewhat  amplified  from  it,  that  it 
would  seem  as  if  Munk  very  soon  decided  to  dispense  with  this 
process  of  ornamentation. 

On  the  Outward  Voyage. 

Page  5  Munk  brought  his  ships  out  of  the  harbour  of  Copenhagen  on 
the  9th  of  May.  He  adds  in  the  MS.,  "  as  that  day  was  a 
Sunday,"  referring,  no  doubt,  to  a  superstitious  belief,  still 
prevalent  in  many  places,  that  Sunday  is  a  lucky  day  for  the 
commencement  of  any  enterprise,  just  as  Friday  is  still  more 
generally  considered  unlucky.  As  the  Sound  is  a  narrow  thorough- 
fare, sailing  ships  are  often  detained  there  by  unfavourable 
winds ;    and    this    happened    in  Munk's  case,   so    that   a  whole 

Page  6  week  elapsed  before  he  finally  weighed  anchor  and  left  Elsinore 
on  Sunday  the  16th.  The  correctness  of  this  date  is  confirmed 
by  the  following  entry  in  Christian  the  Fourth's  diary  for  this 
year  under  that  date  :  Seilede  Enhiorningen  og  Lamprenen  paa 
den  Seilads  nor  den  0111.  Den  Almcegtigste  give  det  til  Lykke1 
{Enhiorningen  and  Lamprenen  sailed  on  the  voyage  round  by 
the  North.     May  the  Almighty  make  it  prosper). 

In  spite,  however,  of  a  Sunday  having  been  chosen  both  for 
the  first  and  for  the  final  start,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if 
many  on  board  looked  forward  with  misgivings,  because  they  had 
not  proceeded  very  far  before  one  of  the  crew  committed  suicide — 
an  event  which  many  would  look  upon  as  a  bad  omen. 

Their  course  necessarily  lay  northwards  as  far  as  the  Scaw,  and 
after  that  westerly  as  far  as  Lindesn?es,  the  southernmost  pro- 
montory of  Norway,  in  lat.  58°.      From  this  point,  their  nearest 

1  R.  Nyerup,  Kong  Christian  den  Fjerdes  Dagbogcr  (Copenhagen,. 
1825),  pp.  56-57.  The  passage  is  quoted,  in  German,  by  J.  H.  Schlegel, 
in  his  translation  of  N.  Slange's  History  of  Christian  IV,  iii,  p.  126. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  65 

route  would  be  through  the  channel  between  the  Orkney  and  the  Ref-  to 

Pa«e  of 

Shetland  Islands,  which  is  in  lat.  590  30';  they  would  therefore  Text. 


naturally  for  some  distance  follow  the  Norwegian  coast,  which  pap-e  6 
gradually  trends  round  towards  the  north  from  Lindesnses ;  {continued) 
and  this  was  fortunate,  as  another  event  of  bad  omen  happened 
just  then,  the  sloop  springing  a  leak  when  they  were  off  Lister, 
an  island  just  west  of  that  cape.  It  was  necessary  to  seek 
harbour  in  order  to  have  this  seen  to  ;  and,  following  the  coast 
as  he  did,  Munk  was  able  to  find  one,  without  going  much  out  of 
his  way,  by  sailing  into  Bukken  (or  Stavanger)  Fjord.  Near  the 
entrance  of  this  bay,  on  the  north  side,  is  an  island  called  Karmo, 
separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  strait  called  Karmsund ;  and  to 
this  place  Munk  repaired.  In  the  printed  text  of  1624,  the  name 
is  given  as  Karsund ;  but  there  is  no  such  place  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and,  as  the  manuscript  has  quite  plainly  Karmsund  in  all 
three  places  where  it  occurs,  Karsund  is  merely  an  error  of  the 
copyist,  which  we  have  corrected  in  our  translation.  Another 
sailor  having  died  while  they  were  here,  Munk  engaged  three 
additional  hands  at  Skudenes,  which  is  the  principal  place  on 
Karmo. 

After  leaving  Karmsund,  they  did  not  take  the  nearest  route, 
south  of  the  Shetland  Islands,  but  passed  to  the  north  of  the 
latter  in  6i° — for  what  reason  does  not  appear.  On  the  2nd  of 
June,  they  passed  the  northernmost  point  of  Shetland  (in  old  Page  7 
Danish,  Hethland),  and  two  days  after  they  passed  the  Faero 
group.  With  regard  to  this  latter  point,  however,  Munk's 
expressions  are  anything  but  clear.  His  words  are  "  steering 
to  the  West,  we  sailed  round  the  East  end  of  Ferroe,  which  is 
called  Syderroe,  about  four  miles  to  the  WTest  of  it."  In  the  first 
place,  it  would  clearly  be  impossible  to  sail  round  the  east  end 
of  any  island  four  miles  to  the  west  of  it.  In  the  second  place, 
none  of  these  islands  is  called  Fsero,  though  the  name  is  used  in 
the  plural  (in  Danish,  Fceroeme)  of  the  whole  group,  each  island 
having  a  separate  name,  as  Stromo,  Sando,  Sydero,  etc.1  Finally, 
Sydero   does  not  form   the  eastern   extremity  of  the  group,  but 


1  The  only  Fcer'6  in  the  singular  is  a  small  island  west  of  the  Orkneys, 
in  English  called  Fair  Isle  (see  Expeditions  to  Gree?ila?ia,  p.  57, 
note  4).  By  analogy,  the  Faero  Islands  ought  in  English  to  be  called 
the  Fair  Isles. 


66  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-T62O. 

Ref.  to   is  (as   the  name  implies)  the   southernmost   island  of  them  all. 

Page  of 

Text.  In  the  MS.  the  passage  originally  read  "  round  the  southern 
pao.e  y  end ",  which  is  correct  and  intelligible ;  but  the  word  Synner 
mtinued)  ("southern")  has  been  altered  to  Oster  ("eastern").  The 
probable  explanation  of  this  puzzling  passage  seems  to  be  that 
Munk,  after  having  rounded  the  northern  extremity  of  Shetland, 
steered  wrest,  so  as  to  pass  clear  of  the  Faero  group,  leaving 
it  to  starboard,  but  that  he  missed  or  was  driven  from  his 
course  in  the  night,  and,  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  June,  came 
up  with  Sydero  to  the  east  of  the  island,  instead  of  to  the  south 
of  it.  If  so,  he  would  be  compelled  to  change  his  course,  and  to 
sail  round  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island,  in  order  to  get 
a  clear  start  westwards  for  Greenland.  Supposing,  further,  that, 
after  having  done  so,  they  followed  the  western  coast  of  the  island 
for  some  distance  northwards,  before  resuming  their  proper 
course  for  America,  and  that  they  were  four  miles  to  the  west  of 
the  islands  when  they  finally  left  them,  this  may  have  been  what 
Munk  meant  by  his  statement  that  they  sailed  round  Sydero,  four 
miles  to  the  west  of  it.  The  substitution  of  "  the  east  end  "  for 
"the  south  end  "  is  difficult  to  account  for ;  but  it  may,  perhaps, 
have  been  caused  by  Munk  remembering  that  when  they  first  saw 
Sydero  on  that  morning  they  had  it  to  the  west  of  themselves. 

The  miles  mentioned  here  and  elsewhere  in  Munk's  account 
are  ancient  Danish  sea-miles,  of  which  about  15  go  to  a  degree. 
They  are,  consequently,  equal  to  four  English  sea-miles  or  about 
4!  ordinary  English  miles. 

The  passage  from  Sydero  to  Greenland  occupied  16  days. 
During  this  time,  nothing  remarkable  seems  to  have  happened, 
as  Munk  passes  it  over  in  silence,  as  far  as  the  navigation  is  con- 
cerned. Meanwhile  he  directed  his  attention  to  a  very  important 
matter — the  proper  economy  as  regards  food.  It  is  not  stated 
for  what  length  of  time  the  vessels  were  provisioned  ;  but,  as  it 
was  foreseen  that  the  expedition  might  have  to  winter,  it  may  be 
assumed  that  they  had  ample  supplies  on  board.  The  proper 
victualling  of  the  ships  under  his  command  seems  to  have  been  a 
point  on  which  Munk  was  always  particular  ;  for,  in  his  annotations 
concerning  his  expedition  to  the  northern  coasts  of  Norway  in 
1623.  he  has  recorded  that  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  supply  he 
had  received,  but  that  his  demand  for  more  had  not  been 
successful.     Possibly,  also,  he  may  have  had  in  mind  Hudson's 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  6/ 

mistake  in  this  respect.    At  any  rate,  he  made  such  arrangements  Ref-  to 
as  would  enable  him  at  any  time  to  ascertain  what  he  might  still  Text. 
count  upon,  and  to  calculate  how  long  it  would  last.  Page  7 

On  June  20th,  Greenland  was   sighted,  but  at  a  considerable  [continued] 
distance.       Munk    estimates    that    they   were    some    15    or    16 
Danish  miles  (about  70  English  miles)  from  land  ;  and,  as  the 
mountains  in   the  southern  part  of  Greenland   exceed  2,000  ft. 
in  height,  this  is  not  impossible,  though   it  would   require  very 
clear  weather  indeed  to  see  them  so  far  off.     We  are  not  told 
in  any  way  whether  Munk  intentionally  approached  the  east  coast 
of  Greenland  a  little  north  of  Cape  Farewell,  and  then  dropped 
down  to   the  Cape,  or  whether  the  same  thing  happened  then 
which  seems  to  have  happened  on  approaching  Sydero — viz.,  that 
he  had  steered  too  northerly.    The  former  would  be  in  keeping  with 
the  advice  which  he  gives  a  little  further  on — namely,  that  in 
crossing  Davis  Strait  for  Hudson's  Strait  it  is  preferable  to  start 
from  Cape  Farewell,  which,  on  account  of  the  strong  southerly 
current,  would  be  more  easily  attained  by  making  for  a  point  on 
the  east  coast  north  of  the  Cape  than  by  steering  directly  for  it. 
However  this  may  be,  Munk's  account  of  his  first  approach  to 
Greenland  does  not  appear  self-consistent ;  for  he  says  that,  when 
they  found  themselves   "  some "  miles  north  of  Cape  Farewell, 
they    were    in   lat.   6i°   25';  but,   even   if  we  take  Munk's    own 
estimate  of  the  latitude  of  the  Cape,  as  given  in  the  printed  text, 
viz.,  6o°  30',  they  would,  in  6i°  25',  be  nearly   14  Danish   miles 
north  of  the  Cape — a  distance  which  Munk  could  scarcely  have 
meant  by  the  word  "  some".     If  we  turn  to  the  manuscript  for 
elucidation  of  the  point,  we  find  that  the  approach  to  Greenland 
is  described  in  the  same  words,  but  the  latitude  in  which  they  saw 
the  land  is  given  as  6o°  25'.     At  first  sight,  this  seems  to  offer  an 
easy  explanation,  as  6i°  25'  might  be  a  mere  copyist's  error  for 
60    25'.      The  sequel  of  the  printed  text,   however,   shows   that 
such  a  surmise  would  be  inadmissible ;  for,  a  little  further  down, 
we  find  the  latitude  of  Cape  Farewell  given  as  6o°  30',  which  is 
clearly  inconsistent  with   their  having  found  themselves  in   lat. 
6o°  25',  some  miles  north  of  the   Cape.     It  is  evident  that  the 
figure  60,  which  appears  in  the  manuscript  where  the  approach  to 
Greenland   is  described,    has   intentionally  been  altered   in    the 
printed  text  to  61,  and  that  it  is  owing  to  an  oversight  that  the 
expression,  "some"  miles  north  of  Cape  Farewell,  which  is  incon- 

5  2 


68  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref-  to   sistent  with  that   change,   has  been  left  unaltered.     If  we  look 

Page  of  to  ' 

Text      further  in  the  manuscript,  we  find  that,  after  the  statement  that 


pao.e  y  they  sighted  Greenland  in  lat.  6o°  25',  some  miles  north  of  Cape 
[continued)  Farewell,  no  other  latitude  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
Cape ;  in  the  next  place,  where  it  is  spoken  of,  and  where  the 
printed  text  inserts  lat.  6o°  30',  the  manuscript  does  not  mention 
any  latitude  at  all ;  finally,  where  Cape  Farewell  is  referred  to  in 
connection  with  the  crossing  of  Davis  Strait,  and  where  the 
printed  text  again  inserts  lat.  6o°  30',  the  MS.  merely  says  "the 
latitude  aforesaid",  which  must  mean  6o°  25',  the  only  figure  that 
has  been  mentioned.  All  these  statements  in  the  MS.  are  in 
harmony  with  one  another,  and  imply  a  latitude  for  Cape  Fare- 
well not  very  far  from  the  true  one.  We  have  no  means  of 
guessing  why  Munk's  original  statement  was  altered  ;  but,  as 
it  is  so  much  more  self-consistent  and  in  keeping  with  actual 
facts  than  that  of  the  printed  text,  we  are  inclined  to  look  upon 
the  former  as  the  more  correct  one. 

It  may  be  observed,  in  passing,  that  Munk  cannot  have  been 
induced  to  alter  the  indication  of  the  latitude  of  Cape  Farewell 
by  consulting  the  map  of  Hessel  Gerritsz.  ;  for  on  the  latter  that 
promontory  is  placed  in  lat.  59°.  This  is  as  much  too  southerly 
as  the  figure  given  in  Munk's  printed  text  (6o°  30')  is  too  northerly, 
the  correct  latitude  being  590  45',  as  confirmed  by  the  latest 
explorer  of  the  Cape,  Lieut.  Holm,  who  was  able  to  observe  on 
the  spot  itself.1 

If  it  was  really  in  lat.  6i°  25'  that  Munk  and  his  party  first  saw 
Greenland,  the  point  observed  can,  of  course,  not  have  been  Cape 
Farewell,  but  would  probably  have  been  the  high  promontory  on 
the  east  coast  in  lat.  6i°  21',  called  Kunerinak  in  the  Greenland 
language,  and  on  the  Danish  maps  Cap  Tordenskjold.2 

Bad  weather  and  the  great  quantity  of  ice  which,  as  is  usually 
the  case,  they  met  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Farewell  drove 
them  out  to  sea  again  ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  30th  of  June, 
after  a  ten  days'  struggle  with  storms  and  gales,  that  they 
(whether  for  the  first  or  second  time  is  not  clear)  sighted  Cape 

1  Medd.  om  Gronland,  vol.  vi  (1883),  p.  165. 

2  See  Map  of  the  East  Coast  of  Greenland  from  Cape  Farewell  to 
lat.  630  45',  by  Lieutenants  G.  Holm  and  V.  Garde,  in  Medd,  om  Grbn- 
land,  vol.  ix  (1889),  plate  xvi. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  69 

Farewell.     This  they  seem  to  have  recognised  without  hesitation,  &/•  tor 

J  °  Page  of 

which  is  easily  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that  Gordon  had  Text. 


been  with  Hall  when  the  latter  made  the  Cape  in  161 2. 1  Munk's  page  7 
description  of  Cape  Farewell  agrees  perfectly  with  those  of  other  {continued 
writers.  The  mountains  close  behind  the  Cape  are  more  than 
2,000  ft.  high,  and  very  rugged  and  wild  in  appearance.  He  Pa&e  & 
expresses  regret  that  he  could  not  obtain  a  drawing  of  the  Cape, 
meaning,  as  his  words  imply,  one  of  the  kind  made  by  navigators 
in  order  to  enable  others  to  recognise  the  localities  where  they 
had  been ;  but  the  explanation  he  gives  seems  scarcely  sufficient, 
because  the  snow  and  ice  which,  he  says,  obscure  the  real 
features  of  the  country,  alter,  of  course,  very  little  during  the  short 
summer.  From  the  fact  that  Munk  mentioned  a  draughtsman 
amongst  his  requisites  for  a  second  voyage,  it  might,  perhaps,  be 
concluded  that  the  real  reason  why  he  could  not  obtain  a  good 
sketch  of  Cape  Farewell  was  the  want  of  a  competent  person  to 
do  it ;  but  the  same  person  who  drew  the  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
wintering-place  could  surely  have  made  a  good  sketch  of  Cape 
Farewell.  A  sketch  of  it,  exhibiting  markedly  the  features 
indicated  by  Munk,  is  prefixed  to  the  above-quoted  paper  by 
Lieut.  Holm.  So  impressed  was  Munk  by  the  forbidding  aspect 
of  the  place,  that  he  suggested  that  whoever  called  it  Cape 
Farewell  doubtless  did  not  mean  to  come  there  again  ;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  that  was  not  exactly  the  case,  if  Gatonbe  was 
rightly  informed,  that  Davis  so  named  the  Cape  because  he  could 
not  come  near  the  land  by  six  or  seven  leagues  for  ice.2 

In  passing,  we  may  observe  that,  although  in  Denmark  the 
name  Cap  Farvel  is  now  always  applied  to  the  Cape  Farewell  of 
English  navigators  (the  Statenhuk  of  the  Dutch,  the  Umanarsuak 
of  the  Greenlanders),  it  was  not  always  so.  Until  not  very  long 
ago  Cap  Farvel  in  Danish  meant  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
island  of  Sermersok,  in  about  lat.  6o°  10'.  It  is,  nevertheless, 
an  error  when  the  "Clerk  of  the  Calif  or  ?iia" ,  after  stating3  that  the 
Dutch  gave  the  name  of  Cap  Vaarwell  to  a  promontory  west  of 

1  See  Book  I,  Expeditions  to  Greenland,  p.  89. 

2  See  Book  I,  Expeditions  to  Greenland,  pp.  89-90. 

3  An  Account  of  a  Voyage  for  the  Discovery  of  a  North- West 
Passage  by  Hudsoris  S freight .  .  .  .,  by  the  Clerk  of  the  "  California" 
(London,  1748,  8vo),  p.  n. 


/O  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,   IOO5-162O. 

Ref.  to   Cape  Farewell,   in  about  lat.    61°    continues,    "the  same   Cape 

Page  of  ,  .  . 

Text.      which    Munk    so    named    in  the  year    1619,   when  he  took  his 


Page  8  departure  from    thence    to    America".     In    the    first   place,    the 
{continued)  Danish  usage  alluded  to  is  of  much  later  date  than  Munk ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  Munk  speaks  expressly  of  the  promontory  as 
the  one  "  which  the  English  call  Cape  Farewell". 

From  Cape  Farewell,  Munk  crossed  Davis  Strait  in  search  of 
the  great  inlet,  which,  at  that  time,  was  still  supposed  by  many  to 
lead  to  the  hoped-for  North-West  Passage ;  but,  before  narrating 
his  experiences  in  seeking  this,  he  offers  some  remarks  on  the 
navigation  in  those  parts.  At  first  sight,  these  observations  do 
not  seem  to  convey  any  very  clear  meaning.  His  words  are  as 
follows  : — 

"  Item,  if  one  shapes  one's  course  too  much  to  the  west, 
towards  the  American  side,  much  ice  is  likewise  encountered,  and 
one  may  then  easily  be  driven  out  of  one's  course,  because  the 
current  with  the  ice  sets  principally  to  the  south-west.  Likewise, 
whoever  intends  to  sail  into  Fretum  Davis  or  Regis  must  keep 
to  60k  degrees  from  Cape  Farewell  ;  and,  if  it  is  possible  to  have 
Cape  Farewell  in  sight,  then  he  may  choose  his  course  as  he 
thinks  best  into  that  said  water",  etc. 

On  the  face  of  it,  this  reads  like  advice  offered  to  navi- 
gators intending  to  sail  into  and  explore  Davis  Strait,  and 
appears  to  be  mainly  to  the  effect  that  they  should  keep  the 
middle  of  the  channel  ;  but,  if  it  is  thus  understood,  it  seems 
a  curious  and  impracticable  instruction  that  they  should  keep 
to  60J0,  whether  this  be  taken  as  meaning  latitude  or  longitude  ; 
nor  does  there  appear  to  be  any  reason  why  one  should  be 
better  able  to  choose  a  right  course  having  Cape  Farewell 
in  sight.  But  the  fact  is  that,  although  Munk  does  not  expressly 
say  so,  he  had  in  mind,  when  he  wrote  this,  only  the  particular 
task  which  had  been  incumbent  upon  him — -viz.,  to  cross  Davis 
Strait,  in  order  to  find  the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait.  He 
wrote  with  a  view  of  guiding  others  who,  after  him,  should  sail 
to  the  country  which  he  had  visited  ;  and,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  his  account  was  written  after  his  return  home,  when  he  had 
learnt  that  the  proper  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait  was  not  (as  he 
had  been  instructed  from  home)  in  about  lat.  620,  but  just  north  of 
lat.  6o°  30',  his  direction  is  quite  intelligible.  By  the  map,  the 
course   from   Cape  Farewell   to  Hudson's   Strait  would  be  very 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  J\ 

little  to  the  north  of  west ;  but  anyone  steering  so  would,  as  he  Ref-  t0 

•  r  Page  of 

says,  be  carried  too  far  south  by  the  current.  Text. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  that,  in  mentioning  Davis  Strait,  p  g 
Munk  suggests  an  alternative  name  Fretum  Regis  (on  Munk's  {continued) 
map  misspelt  Reij).  This  was,  of  course,  meant  as  a  compliment 
to  King  Christian  IV,  but  was  scarcely  intended  seriously.  The 
older  name  was  too  well  established  to  be  changed,  and  Fretum 
Fegis,  which  occurs  only  once  in  the  text,  seems  merely  thrown 
in,  as  it  were,  in  passing. 

At  this  point  of  his  narrative,  Munk  draws  particular  attention 
to  the  necessity  for  careful  observation  of  the  variation  of  the 
needle,  a  matter  which  at  that  time  had  been  taken  up, 
particularly  in  England.  We  have  seen  (see  p.  xv)  that  he 
had  observed  it  in  his  exploration  of  Kolguew  Island  in  1609. 
In  saying  that  navigators  ought  to  make  special  observations 
on  this  subject,  and  to  note  down  the  results,  he  makes  use  of 
the  expression  "ftunctere",  which  seems  to  mean  that  the  amount 
of  the  variation  should  be  marked  by  dots  on  the  compass  dial. 
This  should  be  commenced,  according  to  his  advice,  before 
coming  beyond  560;  and,  as  this  figure,  of  course,  must  refer  to 
longitude,  the  question  arises  :  From  which  meridian  is  this 
reckoned?  As  we  shall  be  able  to  prove  that,  in  working  up 
his  text,  Munk  made  use  of  Origanus'  Ephemerides,1  in  which  the 
longitudes  are  reckoned  from  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  the  56°  would 
probably  have  to  be  counted  from  that  meridian  ;  but  as  Munk 
had  no  means  of  determining  longitudes  at  all  while  on  his 
voyage,  the  figure  must  have  been  arrived  at  merely  by  dead 
reckoning.  Munk  does  not  say  why  he  mentions  longitude  56  as 
the  point  where  navigators  ought  to  turn  their  attention  specially  to 
this  kind  of  observation  before  coming  further  west;  but  it  maybe 
grounded  in  the  fact  that  some  time  before  reaching  that  longitude 
Munk  had  crossed  the  line  dividing  the  area  of  easterly  declina- 
tion, in  which  both  Denmark  and  England  were  then  situated,  from 


1  Ephemerides  nova  .  .  .  .  a  Davidc  Origano  ....  accommodate? 
horizonti  Francofurtano  cujus  longitudo  est  36  part  o  mtn  latitudo  §2° 
part  20  min  ....  Francofurti  ad  Oder  am.  Anno  1599  •  •  ■  4° ;  or, 
more  likely,  the  extended  edition  in  three  vols.,  with  separate  titles,  viz., 
Annorum  flriorum  [flosterioritm]  30  ....  and  Nova  motuum  codes- 
Hum  Ephemerides  ....  Francofurti  ad  Viadrum  ....  1609. 


72  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Rcf.  to   thg  area  Qf  Westerly  declination,  wherein  he  now  found  the  varia- 

Page  of      ,         m  ,  y  ' 

7^.      tion  increasing  to  a  figure  far  beyond  what  he  had  ever  observed 


Page  8  before.1  In  the  subsequent  part  of  his  narrative,  Munk  often  states 
{continued)  expressly  whether  the  directions  indicated  are  corrected  by  allow- 
ance for  the  variation  or  not — "  by  a  true  compass,"  as  he  calls 
it ;  but  he  does  not  always  do  so.  At  the  same  time,  we  have 
not  noticed  any  instance  where  there  is  any  necessity  for  thinking 
that  he  has  omitted  the  correction  in  question.  In  a  few  places 
only,  does  he  state  the  amount  of  the  variation — curiously  enough, 
always  the  same,  viz.,  two  points — and  his  statements  agree  fairly 
well  with  what  is  known  from  other  sources.  Munk's  statement 
of  the  variation  at  Port  Churchill  is  of  interest  as  being  the 
earliest  known  reference  to  the  declination  on  the  west  coast 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  as  indicating  a  considerable  westerly  dis- 
placement of  the  magnetic  pole.  Unfortunately,  however,  as  will 
be  shown  hereafter  (p.  122),  it  is  not  free  from  obscurity. 

Page  9  After  this  digression,  Munk  resumes  the  account  of  his  voyage  ; 
but  the  printed  text  has  in  this  place  been  rendered  meaningless 
by  wrong  punctuation.  Translated  as  it  stands,  the  printed  text 
would  read  thus  :  "  and  this  he  must  observe  and  pay  careful 
attention  to  before  he  comes  beyond  56  degrees  with  a  westerly 
course,  to  come  back  to  my  course  and  further  to  advance  the 
voyage.  When  I  had  now  got  clear  of  the  ice*',  etc.  But  in  the 
MS.  there  is  a  full  stop  after  "  westerly  course",  after  which  half  a 
page  is  left  blank,  as  if  for  the  insertion  of  some  intended  remarks, 
which  after  all  have  been  omitted.  The  new  paragraph  then 
commences  thus  :  "Now  to  return  to  my  course  and  to  continue 
[the  account  of]  my  voyage.  When  I  had  now  got  clear",  etc. 
The  person  who  copied  Munk's  MS.  for  the  press  has  run  the 
two  paragraphs  together  and  misplaced  the  stop,  whereby  the  whole 
passage  has  become  quite  unintelligible.  Probably  with  the 
intention  of  mending  the  confusion  thus  created,  he  has  omitted 
the  word  "now"  and  altered  "my  voyage"  to  "the  voyage". 
We  have  corrected  this  corrupted  passage  in  our  translation. 

In  resuming  the  thread  of  his  narrative,  Munk  says  that  he  got 
clear  of  the  ice  "in  60 J°,  the  longitude  of  Cape  Farewell":  a 
somewhat  surprising  statement,  because   nowhere    else    does    he 

1  See  the  first  map  in  Prof.  Christopher  Hansteen's  Untersuchungen 
iiber  den  Magnetismus  der  Erde  (Christiania,  40,  18 19). 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  73 

indicate  the  longitude  of  any  locality,  and  there  does  not  seem  to  Ref-  t0 

.  Page  of 

be  any  special  reason  for  doing  so  here.    The  figure  being,  more-  Text. 


over,  the  same  as  that  indicating  the  latitude  of  Cape  Farewell,  page  ~ 
one  is  tempted  to  suspect  another  blunder  of  the  copyist ;  but  the  [continued) 
MS.  also  has  "  longitude".  The  figure,  too,  is  left  in  blank  in 
the  MS.,  showing  that  Munk  had  not  got  it  in  his  notes,  but  had 
to  obtain  it  from  some  other  source,  which  would  not  have  been 
the  case  if  "  longitude  "  had  been  a  slip  of  the  pen  on  Munk's 
own  part  for  "latitude",  for  he  gives  the  latter  just  before, 
presumably  in  accordance  with  his  own  observation.  It  cannot, 
therefore,  be  doubted  that  longitude  is  really  meant.  As  in  the 
case  just  mentioned,  the  figure  is  probably  reckoned  from 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder ;  nor  is  it  far  wrong  on  that  supposition. 
In  reality,  Cape  Farewell  is  430  53'  west  of  Greenwich,  whilst 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder  is  14°  34'  east  of  Greenwich,  making  the 
difference  between  Cape  Farewell  and  Frankfort  5 8°  27'.  That 
Munk  indicates  the  point  from  which  he  started  across  Davis 
Strait  by  mentioning  the  longitude  of  Cape  Farewell  is  easily 
explained  by  supposing  that  the  ice,  from  which  he  had  just  got 
clear,  had  carried  him  back  so  as  to  leave  him,  as  nearly  as  might 
be,  south  of  the  Cape. 

Munk  does  not  mention  the  date  on  which  he  started  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cape  Farewell ;  but  it  was  only  on  the  8th  of 
July  that  they  sighted  the  western  shore  of  the  Strait — having 
most  likely  been  delayed  by  the  ice  descending  Davis  Strait. 
Munk  describes  it  as  "  the  American  side",  evidently  not 
reckoning  Greenland  a  part  of  America.  Their  land-fall  is 
stated  to  have  been  in  about  62J0,  which  would  be  off  the 
northern  part  of  Lock's  Land  (Hall's  Island  of  Frobisher),  which 
bounds  the  mouth  of  Frobisher's  Bay  to  the  north  ;  and  this 
accords  with  Munk's  subsequent  statements.  Ice  and  fog  at 
first  prevented  near  approach  to  the  land ;  but,  when  the  latter 
cleared,  Munk  appears  to  have  descried  an  opening  in  the  ice- belt, 
through  which  he  steered  into  a  large  bay.  This,  he  says,  the 
mates  (meaning,  doubtless,  Gordon  and  Watson)  supposed  to  be 
the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait,  because  of  the  latitude  in  which 
it  was  situated.  From  the  sequel,  it  appears  that  Munk  had  been 
instructed  to  search  for  the  Strait  in  about  the  latitude  of  62J0 ; 
and  the  circumstance  that  in  this  place  he  refers,  not  to  his 
instructions,    but    to    the    opinion   of  the    pilots,    may    perhaps 


74  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Rff-  *°  indicate  that  he  did  not  agree  with  them.     That  Hudson's  Strait 

Page  of  ° 

Text.      really  could  be  entered  from  where  they  were,  through  Gabriel 


Page  9  Strait,  they  evidently  did  not  suspect ;  in  fact,  when  Munk  says 
[continued) that  the  ice  which  he  encountered  in  such  great  quantity  came 
out  of  three  large  fjords,  it  seems  as  if  Gabriel  Strait  must 
have  been  one  of  them — blocked,  no  doubt,  by  ice  and  appear- 
ing landlocked.1  The  second  must  have  been  the  main  channel 
of  Frobisher's  Bay ;  but  the  third  cannot  be  accounted  for 
except  by  supposing  that  the  shallow  bay  on  the  north  side 
appeared  from  Munk's  point  of  view  as  the  opening  of  a  great 
inlet. 

Munk  says  that,  after  long  investigation,  they  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  bay  was  not  the  right  entrance  to  Hudson's 
Strait ;  but  he  does  not  say  why  they  came  to  that  conclusion. 
A  little  further  down,  however  (see  p.  10),  he  mentions  that  his 
instructions  directed  him  to  look  for  a  certain  island  situated 
in  62°  30',  which  should  mark  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait  ; 
and  it  was  very  likely  because  they  did  not  find  or  recognise  any 
.  such  island  at  the  mouth  of  Frobisher's  Bay  that  they  decided  to 
seek  further  south.  That  this  Bay  had  been  discovered  long 
before  by  Frobisher  and  called  by  his  name,  they  did  not 
suspect,  because,  at  that  time,  it  was  generally  believed  that  the 
localities  explored  and  named  by  Frobisher  were  situated  on  the 
east  coast  of  Greenland  ;  and  that  they  did  not  recognise  the  bay 
as  the  Lumley's  Inlet  of  Davis  is  easily  accounted  for — even 
supposing  that  they  had  a  detailed  knowledge  of  Davis's  voyages 
— by  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Lumley's  Inlet  had  at  that  time,  by 
mistake,  become  synonymous  with  that  of  Hudson's  Strait,  as 
we  shall  more  fully  explain  hereafter.  Under  the  circumstances, 
it  is  very  natural  that  Munk  should  have  bestowed  a  new  name 
on  the  locality,  and  called  it  Iisefjorde  (the  Ice-Bays). 
Page  10  Munk  next  followed  the  coast  southwards  until  he  reached  a 
promontory  clearly  marking  the  entrance  of  a  great  inlet,  with 
regard  to  which  they  satisfied  themselves  that  it  really  was 
Hudson's   Strait,  though   so  much   farther   south  than   they  had 


1  It  may  be  noted  that  A.  W.  Graah  applies  the  name  Iiscfiordc  to 
Gabriel  Strait.  See  the  map  in  his  U7iders'6gelses-Reise  til  Ostkysten 
af  Gronland  (Copenhagen,  1832),  of  which  an  English  translation 
appeared  in  1837. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK's    NARRATIVE.  75 

been  led  to  expect.  Munk  places  this  promontory  in  lat.  Ref-  t0 
6i°  20',  which,  together  with  the  terms  in  which  he  speaks  of  Text. 
it,  both  in  this  place  and  particularly  in  narrating  the  return  page  10 
voyage  (see  p.  55),  leaves  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  southern-  {continued) 
most  headland  on  Resolution  Island  (as  recognised  already 
by  A.  W.  Graah,1  followed  by  Admiral  Ravn2),  most  likely, 
though  not  certainly,  the  "  Hatton's  Headland"  of  Frobisher. 
For  the  reason  already  stated,  it  would  not  occur  either  to 
Munk  or  to  the  English  pilots  to  identify  the  promontory  in 
question  with  any  place  mentioned  by  Frobisher ;  and  Munk  was 
therefore  perfectly  justified  in  calling  it  after  himself,  Munckenes 
(Munk's  Cape).  Indeed,  if  it  were  not  for  the  probability  of 
this  cape  being  identical  with  "  Hatton's  Headland",  it  ought 
now  to  be  called  Munckenes.  The  name  of  "  Cape  Best",  which 
is  applied  to  it  on  some  modern  maps,  also  occurs  on  Fro- 
bisher's  map,3  but  belongs  evidently  to  some  headland  east 
of  Hatton's  Headland — possibly  Cape  Warwick.  As,  however, 
the  author  of  Frobisher's  map  evidently  did  not  intend  to  give 
an  accurate  outline  of  Resolution  Island,  but  only  to  mark 
the  position  of  it,  no  safe  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the 
map  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  names  in  question.  Cape  Best  is 
not  mentioned  in  Best's  text,  but  Hatton's  Headland  is  spoken 
of,  and  that  in  terms  which  would  apply  with  a  good  deal  of 
probability  to  the  southernmost  extremity  of  the  island. 

Much  less  (if,  indeed,  anything)  can  be  said  in  justification  or 
excuse  for  the  bestowal  of  a  new  name  on  Hudson's  Strait,  viz., 
Fretum  Christian.  Whilst  Munck  only,  as  it  were,  interpolates  the 
alternative  name  of  Fretum  Regis  once  in  mentioning  Davis 
Strait,  he  makes  use  of  Fretum  Christian  in  most  places  where  he 
refers  to  Hudson's  Strait,  and  generally  without  mentioning  either 
of  the  two  other  names,  Hudson's  Strait  and  Lumley's  Inlet.  As, 
moreover,  he  introduces  the  name  Fretum  Christian  with  the 
same  phrase  which  he    makes  use   of  in    introducing  the  name 


1  Op.  cit.,  map. 

2  In  an  article  entitled  Udsigt  orer  dc  Reiser,  som  ere  foretagne 
for  at  finde  Nordvest  Passagen  ("Review  of  the  Voyages  undertaken 
to  find  the  North-West  Passage"),  in  Dansk  Maanedskrift,  i860 
(Copenhagen,  8J),  p.  89. 

3  In  Bests  True  Discourse,  etc.  (London,  1578,  4to). 


76  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   Miinckenes  (viz.,  "as  it  is  now  called")  it  is  clear  that  he  seriously 

Pa%e  of  v  '  J 

Text.      meant    to   propose    this  new  name  for  the  Strait.     Superfluous 


Page  10  names  are  most  objectionable  in  geography,  and  there  is  nothing 
{continued)  specially  to  be  said  in  favour  of  this  one.  At  the  same  time,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  Munk  was  not  a  professional 
geographer  but  a  plain  sailor,  who  may  have  thought  that  a 
name  bestowed  in  honour  of  his  King  would  at  once  command 
acceptance,  at  least  at  the  side  of  the  older  less  pretentious 
one.  The  earlier  explorers,  too,  were  not  overscrupulous  in 
this  respect,  and  many  cases  of  unnecessary,  yet  in  the  end 
successful,  renaming  may  be  cited. 

Apart  from  this  suggested  new  name,  Munk  more  than  once 
describes  the  great  waterway  as  Lumley's  or  Hudson's  Strait; 
and  this  use  of  the  two  names  as  synonymous  has  been 
characterised  as  a  mistake  of  Munk's.1  But  it  was,  in  any 
case,  a  mistake  which  Munk  shared  with  everybody  else  at  that 
time.  It  originated  with  Weymouth,  and  under  the  circum- 
stances was  very  natural :  nay,  in  a  sense,  it  was  no  mistake  at 
all.  The  facts  are  briefly  these  : — -Davis,  in  1587,  gave  the  name 
of  Lumley's  Inlet  to  the  same  opening  which  had  previously  been 
named  Frobisher's  Strait,  but  which  he,  for  reasons  already 
explained,  failed  to  identify.  Of  this  inlet,  he  really  only  saw  the 
opening  from  Davis'  Strait,  which  he  noticed  in  passing  as  he 
coasted  southwards.  The  name,  therefore,  in  reality  only 
applied  to  the  opening  between  Lock's  Land  (as  it  is  now  called) 
and  Resolution  Island.  After  passing  the  latter,  which  he  did 
not  recognise  as  an  island,  but  on  which  he  noticed  the  eastern 
headland,  by  him  called  Warwick's  Foreland,  Davis  passed  the 
entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait,  but  without  examining  or  even 
properly  naming  this  "gulfe  or  second  passage",  as  he  calls  it; 
only  he  noticed  in  it  an  extraordinary  action  of  the  tide,  which 
he  describes  as  "a  furious  overfall".  His  next  successor,  Wey- 
mouth, in  1602,  after  passing  Warwick's  Foreland,  northwards 
bound,  found  himself  opposite  Lumley's  Inlet,  and  recognised  it  as 
such,  but  was  then  driven  back  by  north-east  winds  to  the  "gulfe" 
mentioned  by  Davis,  through  which  he  succeeded  after  a  long 
struggle  in  entering  the  passage  afterwards  called  Hudson's  Strait, 


1  See    P.    Lauridsen's    edition   of    the    Navigatio    Scptentrionalis, 
note  6. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  J? 

but  which  at  that  time  had  no  proper  or  accepted  English  name  Ref.  to 
at  all.  Frobisher,  indeed,  had  entered  the  Strait  on  his  third  Text 
voyage  in  1578,  mistaking  it  for  Frobisher's  Strait,  and  in  Best's  p  IO 
account  of  the  voyage1  it  is  referred  to  several  times  as  the  {continued) 
"mistaken  strait"  or  "the  same  mistaken  streights".  It  is 
likewise  so  described  on  the  map.  But  this  is  a  mere 
descriptive  epithet — not  a  proper  name,  any  more  than  Davis' 
"  furious  overfall "  on  the  Molyneux  globe.  Even  if  the  author 
of  the  narrative  intended  it  as  a  name,  properly  speaking,  it 
never  was  accepted  as  a  name  for  Hudson's  Strait,  because 
all  the  world,  from  Davis  onward,  for  nearly  two  centuries 
believed  that  some  place  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland  was 
meant  by  it.  Referring  to  Warwick's  Foreland,  Weymouth  says  : 
"  We  could  discern  none  other  than  that  it  was  an  island  [which, 
indeed,  Frobisher  had  already  ascertained,  calling  it  Queen 
Elizabeth's  Foreland],  which  if  it  fall  out  to  be  so,  then  Lumley's 
Inlet  and  the  next  southern  inlet  where  the  great  current  setteth 
to  the  west'  must  of  necessity  be  one  sea,  which  will  be  the 
greatest  hope  of  passage  that  way."2  Weymouth's  account  was 
not  published  till  1625  ;  but  the  results  of  his  voyage  became 
generally  known  long  before  then,  with  the  consequence  that 
Lumley's  Inlet  at  once  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  part  and 
parcel  of  the  great  waterway  extending  towards  the  west,  up 
which  he  had  sailed  100  leagues,  as  he  estimated,  and  to  the 
whole  of  which  the  name  of  Lumley's  Inlet,  in  the  absence  of 
any  other,  was  naturally  transferred.  Accordingly,  Hudson  (who, 
moreover,  was  acquainted  with  Weymouth's  journals)  says  in  his 
account  of  his  voyage  in  1608:3  "I  therefore  resolved  to  use  all 
means  I  could  to  sayle  to  the  north-west,  considering  the  time 
and  meanes  we  had,  if  the  wind  should  friend  us,  as  in  the  first 
part  of  our  voyage  it  had  done,  and  to  make  triall  of  that  place  called 
Lumley's  Inlet  and  the  furious  over-fall  of  Capt.  Davis,  hoping  to 
run  it  an  hundred  miles  and  then  return  as  God  should  enable 
us."     It   was   so    much    the    more    natural    that    the    name    of 

1  See  Capt.  Best,  A  True  Discourse,  etc.,  Third  Voyage,  pp.  20,  24, 
and  25  ;  also  the  Reprint  by  the  Hakluyt  Society  (London,  1867), 
pp.  242  and  247. 

2  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  vol.  iii,  p.  810. 

3  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  vol.  iii,  p.  580  ;  see  also  Asher's  Henry 
Hudson,  p.  44. 


78  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to  Lumley's  Inlet  should  be  extended  to  the  whole  of  the  waterway, 
Text.  of  which  it  was  reckoned  an  entrance,  as  the  existence  of  any 
pao.e  IO  other  continuation  of  that  opening  westwards  was  so  entirely  over- 
{continued)  looked  that  all  trace  of  any  such  thing  disappeared  from  the  maps 
for  more  than  150  years,  the  continuation  which  Frobisher  had 
explored  having  been  erroneously  transferred  to  Greenland.  There 
is,  therefore,  nothing  surprising,  and — viewed  in  the  light  of  that 
time,  as  it  should  be— nothing  to  find  fault  with  either  in  the  fact 
that  the  Strait,  or  at  least  the  main  entrance  to  it,  bears  the  name  of 
Lumley's  Inlet  on  the  map  published  in  161 2  by  Hessel  Gerritsz 
(and  which  is  generally  admitted  to  be  in  the  main  Hudson's) 
or  in  Gerritsz. 's  explanation,  in  which  he  says  that  Hudson  tried  to 
find  a  passage  through  Lumley's  Inlet  by  the  way  f  jund  by 
Weymouth,  though  in  reality  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
entered  the  Strait  by  the  Lumley's  Inlet  of  Davis.  Indeed,  it  may 
be  confidently  asserted  that  "  Lumley's  Inlet"  would  most  probably 
have  been  the  name  of  Hudson's  Strait  to  this  day,  if  the  sensation 
created  by  Hudson's  discovery  of  the  Bay,  and  death  there,  had 
not  caused  his  name  to  be  so  closely  associated  with  it.  As  it  hap- 
pened, Hudson's  Strait  soon  became  the  generally-received  name 
for  the  Strait,  though  Weymouth's  view  that  this  and  Lumley's  In- 
let were  "one  sea"  continued  to  be  held  for  more  than  150  years. 
The  name  "Lumley's  Inlet"  came  to  be  restricted  to  the  opening 
originally  so  called,  together  with  the  strait  between  the  mainland 
and  Resolution  Island,  for  which  we  now  use  Frobisher's  name, 
Gabriel  Strait,  whilst  the  real  western  continuation  of  the  Inlet, 
as  already  stated,  was  ignored.  The  whole  of  that  waterway  was 
spoken  of  as  the  "  North  Channel "  leading  into  Hudson's  Strait, 
whilst  the  proper  entrance  was  called  the  "South  Channel", 
Resolution  Island  being  described  and  generally  figured  on  the 
maps  as  an  island  situated  in  the  wide  opening  of  the  Strait  and 
dividing  it  into  .two  channels  of  nearly  equal  importance.  The  maps 
published  within  the  period  mentioned— from  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s 
downwards — and  the  expressions  used  by  navigators  like  Hawk- 
ridge,  Baffin,  Luke  Foxe,  and  others,  down  to  Robson,  Coats,  and 
the  "  Clerk  of  the  California",  amply  bear  this  out.  It  was  not  till 
the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  it  was  re-discovered 
that  Lumley's  Inlet  was  the  opening  of  a  great  bay  penetrating 
far  westwards  into  the  Continent,  independent  of — though,  by 
means  of  Gabriel  Strait,  connected  with — Hudson's  Strait.    At  the 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK  S    NARRATIVE.  79 

same  time,  however,  the  name  fell  altogether  out  of  use  :  for,  when  Rff-  to 

'  '  °  ;         '  Paqe  of 

it  had  been  ascertained  that  the  localities  described  by  Frobisher  Text. 


were  not  situated  in  Greenland,  it  soon  became  apparent  that  page  IO 
Lumley's  Inlet  was  but  another  name  for  Frobisher's  Strait.  {cont*nue<l) 
From  all  this,  it  follows  that,  although  Munk  may  appear  to  us, 
with  our  more  complete  knowledge,  to  have  made  a  mistake  in 
using  the  two  names,  Lumley's  and  Hudson's  Strait,  as  synony- 
mous, this  is  far  from  requiring  an  apology  when  looked  upon 
with  due  consideration  of  the  knowledge  of  the  time. 

It  is  not  clearly  stated  on  what  grounds  Munk's  party  satisfied 
themselves  that  the  great  inlet  of  which  Munckenes  formed,  so  to 
speak,  the  northern  gatepost,  really  was  Hudson's  Strait ;  but 
they  seem  to  have  done  so  at  once,  although  the  only  island 
which  they  could  find  in  the  opening  (doubtless  the  largest  of  the 
Button  Islands)  was,  according  to  their  observation,  in  lat.  6o°  40', 
instead  of  620  30'  as  it  was  stated  to  be  in  Munk's  instructions. 
Resolution  Island  they  do  not  appear  to  have  recognised  as  an 
island,  although  several  earlier  explorers  had  done  so — a  circum- 
stance which  seems  to  militate  against  the  supposition  that  any 
of  them  had  been  there  before. 

Munk  prefaces  his  experiences  in  Hudson's  Strait  with  some 
advice  to  future  navigators  ;  but  in  this  place  a  misprint  or 
clerical  error  again  renders  the  printed  text  meaningless,  the 
words  vider  end  (i.e.,  "further  than"),  having  been  substituted  for 
under  (that  is,  "  below"),  which  appears  in  the  MS.  Translated  as 
it  stands  in  the  printed  text,  the  passage  would  be  to  the  effect 
that  the  navigator  should  always  shape  his  course  so  as  not  to  get 
further  than  61J0,  which  conveys  no  meaning;  whereas  "below 
61  J°",  as  in  our  translation,  is  quite  intelligible.  Munk's  intention 
was  to  warn  navigators  against  sailing  too  near  the  southern 
shore,  and  thus  running  the  risk  of  being  driven  out  of  their 
course  by  the  strong  currents  that  would  be  encountered  there. 
Munk's  statements  concerning  the  strength  of  the  current,  the 
height  of  the  tides,  and  the  great  depth  of  the  sea  in  these  parts 
are  confirmed  by  all  subsequent  writers. 

Munk  commenced  his  exploration  of  the  Strait  by  sending  his  Page  1 1 
lieutenant,  Mauritz  Stygge,  on  shore  near  Munckenes  on  the  12th 
of  July,  partly  to  fetch  water,  partly  to  examine  the  locality.     In 
this  place,  too,  the  printed  text  is  unintelligible  on  account  of  the 
word  haffner  (i.e.,  "harbours")  having  been  omitted  after  finding. 


80  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Rej.  to    in  our  translation,  we  have  inserted  it  in   accordance  with  the 

Page  of 

Text.      MS.     It  appears  that  Munk  wished  to  give  his  men  some  rest, 


Pa<>-e  11  and  to  wait  in  some  convenient  place  for  the  ice,  which  so  seriously 
{continued)  impeded  the  navigation,  to  pass  out  of  the  Strait.  No  anchorage, 
however,  could  be  discovered  near  Munkenes — at  least,  none 
offering  sufficient  shelter  ;  and  Munk  was  obliged  to  continue  his 
voyage  as  best  he  could.  In  so  doing,  he  followed  the  northern 
shore  (that  of  Meta  Incognita)  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  whether 
he  did  so  because  he  thought  it  best  at  the  time,  or  because  he 
was  instructed  to  do  so.  Very  likely  it  was  merely  a  natural 
consequence  of  his  having  come  down  to  the  Strait  from  the 
north.  At  any  rate  it  was  in  keeping  with  his  advice  to  navigators 
above  mentioned  not  to  come  below  61J0,  the  propriety  of  which 
is  borne  out  by  the  testimony  of  later  times,  to  the  effect  that,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  summer,  the  northern  coast  is  the  more  free 
from  ice.  But  he  overdid  it,  as  it  were,  keeping  between  the  ice 
and  the  shore,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  imprisoned 
between  the  two  and  much  delayed. 

Munk's  troubles  commenced  already  in  the  evening  of  July  13th, 
that  is,  at  the  close  of  the  first  day's  sail  within  the  Strait,  when 
the  vessels  were  caught  in  the  ice  and  further  manoeuvring 
became  impossible.  Munk  seems  quite  to  have  realised  their 
danger,  remembering,  no  doubt,  his  experience  in  the  year  1609, 
when  his  ship  was  crushed  in  the  ice  off  the  island  of  Kolguew,1 
he  and  his  crew  escaping  with  difficulty.  It  appears  that  he  wished 
to  give  his  readers  some  notion  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation 
by  means  of  an  illustration ;  but  the  only  representation  there  is 
of  anything  of  the  kind,  viz.t  that  on  the  first  woodcut  (facing 
p.  14)  farthest  to  the  right,  is  very  tame,  and  if  meant  for  the 
events  here  related,  contrasts  almost  ludicrously  with  the  grand 
words  of  the  printed  text.2  The  MS.  simply  says,  "  as  the  figure 
shows  ";  and  a  page  is  left  blank  for  the  insertion  of  a  drawing; 
but,  as  in  most  of  the  other  cases,  none  such  has  been  inserted. 
We  may  note  that  the  Danish  printed  text  refers  to  "  the  Kort 
accompanying  this  treatise",  which  may  easily  be  misunderstood, 


1  See  p.  xv. 

2  It  is,  most  likely,  really  intended  to  illustrate  the  situation  just 
before  entering  Haresimd,  though  it  is  not  referred  to  in  the  proper 
place  in  the  text  (see  pp.  17  and  83). 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  8 1 

because  Kort  ordinarily   means   a  map  :   but   there   is    nothing  Rff-  tor 

J  r  °  Page  of 

on   the   map  illustrating  this  incident.      Elsewhere,  too,   Munk  Text. 


uses  Kort  as  synonymous  with  Thaffle  (a  plate). 

Having  at  length,  at  daybreak  on  the  15  th  of  July,  escaped 
from  the  grip  of  the  ice,  Munk  was  able  during  that  day  to  make  page  12 
further  headway,  though  sometimes  reduced  to  tacking  between 
the  ice  and  the  shore;  but  in  the  evening  his  progress  was  again 
arrested  by  the  ice,  which  had  accumulated  round  some  islands. 
Munk  does  not  supply  any  indications  by  which  these  may  be 
identified,  and  we  are  in  that  respect  left  to  conjecture.  Con- 
sidering, on  the  one  hand,  that  Munk  had  had  two  days'  sailing 
in  the  Strait  before  he  came  to  these  small  islands,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  after  having  got  clear  again  of  the  ice  which 
stopped  him  there,  he  was  able  to  make  progress  only  during  few 
and  short  intervals  before  he  reached  Haresund,  at  least  140 
English  miles  up  the  Strait,  it  is  evident  that  the  islands  in 
question  must  have  been  a  considerable  distance  within  the 
entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait.  Mr.  Lauridsen  is  of  opinion  that 
they  must  have  been  the  Middle  Savage  Islands  •}  and  this 
identification  is  not  open  to  objection  on  the  score  of  the 
considerations  just  adduced.  But  Munk's  statement  that  they 
were  "  small  islands  which  stretched  away  from  the  mainland  in  a 
more  westerly  direction",  and  that  they  stayed  outside  them  for  a 
considerable  time,  does  not  seem  applicable  to  the  Middle  Savage 
Islands,  which  according  to  Coats2  are  situated  six  or  seven  miles 
from  the  main.  On  the  Admiralty  map,  some  nameless  islands 
are  marked  between  the  Lower  and  the  Middle  Savage  Islands, 
and  much  nearer  to  the  shore,  which  might  with  greater  proba- 
bility be  identified  with  those  spoken  of  by  Munk.  There  is, 
however,  not  the  slightest  necessity  for  supposing  that  the  islands 
in  question  are  amongst  those  which  have  been  named  by 
navigators  or  geographers,  or  have  been  put  down  on  our  maps. 
Munk  evidently  kept  very  close  to  the  shore ;  and,  considering 
the  expressions  he  uses,  the  probability  is  altogether  that  the 
small  islands  of  which  he  speaks  were  merely  rocky  islets,  such 
as  abound  in  many  places  along  these  coasts. 

At  first  sight,  there  seems  to  be  some  confusion  with  regard  to  Page  13 

See  his  edition  of  Navigatio  Septentrionalis,  note  13. 
Geography  of  Hudson's  Bay,  (Hakluyt  Society,  1852),  p.  14. 

6 


82  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   the  dates  in  this  part  of  the  narrative.     After  stating  that  they 
Text.      had  entered  a  harbour  on  the   17  th  of  July,  Munk  commences  a 


Page  13  new  paragraph  with  the  words,  "On  the  17th  of  July,  I  ordered  the 
{continued)  sloop  to  sail  before  us  and  look  for  anchorage",  apparently  a 
different  event  from  that  mentioned  just  before  under  the  same 
date.  Again,  after  having  told  how  they  had  found  and  entered 
a  good  harbour  on  the  17th,  he  says  that  "on  the  following 
day",  which  must  be  understood  to  mean  the  18th,  he  sent  out 
men  to  examine  the  country.  Nevertheless,  he  commences  the 
following  paragraph,  in  which  he  relates  his  interview  with  the 
natives,  with  the  words  "On  the  18th  of  July",  as  if  he  were 
going  to  narrate  the  events  of  a  fresh  day.  As,  however,  the 
dates  are  given  in  the  MS.  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  printed  text, 
neither  the  copyist  nor  the  printer  can  be  in  fault,  and  the  want 
of  clearness  has  probably  arisen  simply  from  Munk  having  copied 
his  notes  too  closely.  One  entry  may  have  been  made  in  the 
middle  of  the  day  on  July  17th,  stating  what  had  happened  until 
then;  the  next  paragraph,  commencing  "On  the  17th  of  July", 
probably  corresponds  to  an  entry  concerning  their  finding  another 
harbour  in  the  afternoon  of  the  17th,  and  the  sending  out  of 
an  exploring  party  in  the  morning  of  the  18th  ;  and  this  may  have 
been  put  down  soon  after  the  men  had  returned,  which  they  did 
about  midday.  Finally,  the  paragraph  commencing  "  On  the 
1 8th  of  July  "  narrates  what  took  place  in  the  afternoon  of  that 
day,  viz.,  the  interview  with  the  natives.  If  Munk  had  broken  up 
his  notes  and  told  what  had  happened  on  each  day  in  a  separate 
paragraph,  there  would  have  been  no  appearance  of  confusion. 

The  harbour  which  Munk  entered  on  the  evening  of  the 
17th,  and  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Rinsund^  cannot  have 
been  very  far  from  the  islands  where  the  ice  stopped  him  in  the 
evening  of  the  15  th,  because  the  distance  was  covered  in  the 
course  of  the  17th,  of  which  day  a  portion  must  have  been  spent 
in  the  harbour  which  they  had  entered  in  the  morning  of  that  day, 
and  from  which  the  sloop  was  sent  out  to  reconnoitre.  It  is 
not  clear  from  Munk's  description  whether  it  was  a  sound 
between  islands  or  between  an  island  and  the  mainland  ;  but  the 
latter  is  the  more  probable,  as  the  natives  and  the  reindeer,  of 
which  he  speaks,  would  be  more  likely  to  be  encountered  on  the 
mainland.  Moreover,  on  the  woodcut  facing  p.  14,  on  which 
Munk's  meeting  with  the  natives  (which  happened  at  Rinsund) 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  83 

and   the    shooting   of  reindeer   are   represented,    the   ships   are  Ref.  to 
seen  lying  close    under   the    main,   inside    some    small    islands.  Text. 
This  was  the  only  place  where  Munk  met  with  the  natives,  with  pa      x  ~ 
whom  his  intercourse  was  very  friendly,  whilst  many  of  the  early  {continued) 
explorers  complain  much  of  the  hostility  of  the  Esquimaux.     In 
Munk's  case  they  seem  to  have  held  back  in  a  rather  remarkable 
manner,  unless  it  be  that  those  whom  he  met  were  only  casual 
visitors,  having  their  home  far  away.    It  is  curious  that  on  the  wood- 
cut just  mentioned  the  natives  are  drawn  as  naked,  whereas  not 
only  was  this  manifestly  improbable,  but  several  Greenlanders  had 
at  that  time  been  seen  at  Copenhagen  in  their  native  costume.1 

Munk  loosed  from  Rinsund  on  the  19th  of  July  to  continue  his  Page  14 
voyage  ;  but  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  his  anchorage,  where 
he  remained  until  the  evening  of  the  22nd,  when  he  again  set  Page  15 
sail,  after  taking  possession  of  the  land  in  the  name  of  King 
Christian  IV.,  in  token  of  which  he  set  up  the  King's  arms  and 
monogram  —  no  doubt  brought  out  on  purpose.  He  hoped 
that  the  ice  would  by  this  time  have  diminished  sufficiently ;  but 
on  the  very  next  morning  he  found  himself  again  enclosed  by 
the  ice,  which  even  lifted  the  sloop  completely  out  of  the  water,  so 
that  one  could  pass  one's  hand  under  her  keel.  Munk  appears 
to  have  been  much  surprised  and  even  alarmed  at  this  occurrence, 
which,  however,  is  not  infrequent  in  Arctic  navigation,  and  often 
tends  rather  to  preserve  than  to  endanger  a  ship.2    In  this  place  the 

1  Munk's  account  of  how,  in  the  hope  of  attracting  the  natives,  he 
caused  all  kinds  of  small  objects  to  be  deposited  wherever  their 
fishing-nets  were  found,  has  been  retold  in  a  manner  which  strikingly 
illustrates  how  statements  often  are  transformed  by  passing  from  hand 
to  hand.  Isaac  de  la  Peyrere  says  (Relation  du  Groenla?id,  pp.  238-239) 
that  the  Danes,  finding  fishing-nets  suspended  along  the  shore, 
attached  all  sorts  of  presents  to  them,  but  that  no  natives  came.  The 
translator  in  Churchill's  Voyages  (vol.  vi,  p.  407),  misunderstanding 
the  French  word  "filets",  says  that  the  Danes  suspended  all  sorts  of 
objects  to  small  ropes.  Finally, "  the  Clerk  of  the  California"  (Accoimt 
of  a  Voyage,  etc.,  p.  37),  writes  :  "  That  night  the  Danes  sailed,  but 
were  forced  to  return  the  next  day,  when  they  found  everything  they 
had  presented  them  with  hung  with  a  string  on  the  shore,  and  the 
Esquimaux  gone." 

2  We  may  refer  to  the  recent  experiences  of  the  Arctic  traveller, 
Dr.  Nansen,  in  this  respect,  and  the  discussions  which  have  taken 
place  on  the  subject  in  the  Royal  Geographical  Society. 

62 


84  DANISH   ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   printed  text  again  refers  to  the  Kortiox  an  illustration  ;  but  no  map 

Text.      is    meant.     The  MS.  simply  says,  "  The  figure  shows,"  and  two 

Page  15  Pages  are  left  blank  for  a  drawing  ;  but  there  is  none.    Nor  is  there 
{continued)  anv  representation  of  this  incident  on  either  of  the  woodcuts. 

Page  16  For  several  days,  the  vessels  continued  beset  with  ice,  sometimes 
immoveably  fixed,  at  other  times  able  to  proceed  a  little,  but  all 
the  time  in  great  danger.  They,  however,  put  their  trust  in  a 
merciful  Providence.  In  mentioning  this,  Munk  says,  under 
July  26th,  that  on  that  day  they  all  gave  something  to  the 
poor,  which  seems  a  very  peculiar  proceeding  in  Hudson's 
Strait.  If  this  incident  has  not  been  referred  to  a  wrong  date  (for 
the  25th  was  a  Sunday),  it  would  seem  that  a  special  service  was 
held,  at  which  there  was  an  offertory,  the  proceeds  of  which  were 

Page  17  destined  for  the  poor-box  on  their  return  home.  During  these 
days,  they  remained  quite  near  to  the  mainland,  drifting  about 
amongst  the  islets  girding  the  coast,  at  times  so  close  to  the 
latter  that  under  ordinary  circumstances  they  might  have  brought 
a  hawser  on  shore,  but  unable  to  find  shelter  from  the  ice,  with  which 
they  had  to  battle  unceasingly.     At  length,  on  the  31st  of  July, 

Page  18  they  reached  a  small  cove  or  bay,  where  they  were  in  comparative 
safety,  and  where  Munk  decided  to  wait  until  navigation  should 
become  possible.  This  place,  which  he  called  Haresund  {i.e., 
"Hare  Sound"),  is,  we  believe,  represented  by  the  river  to  the 
right  on  the  woodcut  facing  p.  14,  into  which  the  ships  are  enter- 
ing surrounded  by  ice. 

During  his  stay  here,  Munk  examined  the  country  in  order  to 
ascertain  its  capabilites.  It  seems  that,  like  many  other  Arctic 
explorers,  he  imagined  himself  to  have  found  metalliferous  rocks  ; 

Page  19  but,  as  his  samples  were  lost  with  the  frigate,  it  is  not  known  what 
they  really  were.  However,  the  circumstance  caused  him,  when 
a  second  voyage  was  in  contemplation,  to  ask  for  some  person 
skilled  in  such  matters  to  be  added  to  his  staff.  Munk  also 
mentions  the  occurrence  of  much  Talc,  then  known  as  "  Russian 
Glass",  a  mineral  likewise  noticed  by  other  Arctic  travellers. 

As  they  remained  nearly  a  fortnight  at  Haresund,  the  question 
where  it  was  situated  is  of  no  small  interest.  The  direct 
information  on  this  point  given  in  the  text  amounts  to  this  :  that 
it  was  on  the  northern  coast,  in  lat.  62°  20',  distant  not  much  less 
than  50  Danish  miles  from  the  entrance  of  the  Strait,  and  near  a 
large  bay  extending  towards  the  north.     Considering  how  Munk 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  85 

had  been  drifting  forwards  and  backwards  with  the  ice,  no  great  Ref-  t0 
weight  can  be  attached  to  his  vague  estimate  of  the  distance;  Text. 
nor  is  the  latitude  of  much  use  in  determining  the  position,  as  the  p     e  IQ 
main  direction  of  the  coast  is  east  and  west.      As,  however,  in  {continued) 
reality,  there  is  only  one  place  on  the  northern  coast  of  Hudson's 
Strait  which  could  be  described  as  a  large  bay  extending  north- 
wards, viz.,   the   so-called   North  Bay,  we    must    conclude  that 
Haresund  was  situated  not  far  from  that.     The  question  remains 
whether  it  was  to  the  East  or  to  the  West  of  the  opening  of 
North  Bay.     In  our  opinion,  Haresund  was  some  place  not  far 
east  of  the  point  where  North  Bay  branches  off  from  Hudson's 
Strait — not  unlikely  Icy  Cove,  which  Coats  describes  as  a  parti- 
cularly safe  harbour.1 

M.  Ravn,2  on  the  contrary,  and  after  him  M.  Lauridsen,3  have 
suggested  that  Haresund  might  with  probability  be  sought  for 
near  the  Upper  Savage  Islands,  to  the  west  of  North  Bay,  but 
without  giving  any  reasons  for  the  suggestion.  As  regards  the 
latitude  and  the  proximity  to  North  Bay,  some  locality  near  those 
islands  might  answer  the  requirements  of  identification  as  well  as 
Icy  Cove,  and,  as  regards  the  distance  from  the  entrance  of  the 
Strait,  even  better.  But  we  have  already  pointed  out  that  no 
strong  argument  can  be  drawn  from  these  circumstances.  At  the 
same  time,  other  and  very  weighty  considerations  may  be  adduced 
in  favour  of  seeking  Haresund  to  the  East  of  North  Bay.  In  the 
first  place,  it  should  be  observed  that  Munk  could  not  have 
reached  any  place  near  the  Upper  Savage  Islands  without 
crossing  the  mouth  of  North  Bay  ;  but  neither  does  he  imply  any 
such  thing,  nor  does  his  narrative  allow  of  the  supposition  that 
he  did. '  Attentive  perusal  of  his  narrative  will  prove  that,  until 
he  reached  Haresund,  he  remained  quite  close  to  the  shore ;  nor 
is  there  the  smallest  indication  of  his  having  left  it,  as  he  would 
have  to  do  (and  for  a  long  time,  too)  if  he  had  crossed  North  Bay. 
He  says,  moreover,  that  the  large  bay  extending  northwards  was  so 
full  of  ice  that  it  was  impossible  in  a  boat  to  advance  more  than 

1  Geography  of  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  14  :  "  Icy  Cove  is  a  most  safe 
harbour  .  .  .  and  good  anchor-ground,  where  I  sheltered  our  ship  from 
ice  when  hard  pressed." 

2  Dansk  Maanedskrift,  i860,  p.  90. 

3  Jens  Mitnk's  Navigatio,  note  18. 


86  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

.  an  English  mile  into  it,  which  well  accords  with  the  observations 
Text.''    of  Coats  to  the  effect  that  in  North  Bay  and  White  Strait  there  is 


pacre  19  such  an  abundance  of  ice  "  that  it  has  been  said  all  our  iles  of 
{continued)  ice  come  from  this  streight".1  The  supposition  that  Munk  had 
crossed  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  before  arriving  at  Haresund  is 
clearly  not  admissible.  Far  more  probable  is  it  that,  after  having, 
in  the  course  of  the  short  night,  advanced  a  few  leagues  from 
Rinsund,  Munk  was  arrested  by  the  mighty  stream  of  ice  pro- 
ceeding from  North  Bay  and  finally  forced  on  to  the  shore  (from 
which  he  had  never  departed  far) — fortunately  without  suffering 
shipwreck,  but  being  carried,  almost  miraculously,  into  a  safe 
harbour  east  of  the  Bay.  To  this  may  be  added,  in  the  second 
place,  that  the  subsequent  action  of  Munk  and  his  pilots,  as  we 
shall  see  presently,  agrees  very  much  better  with  the  supposition 
that  Haresund  was  Icy  Cove,  or  some  place  in  that  neighbour- 
hood, than  with  the  supposition  that  it  was  some  place  at  or  near 
the  Upper  Savage  Islands. 

We  should  mention  in  passing  that  on  Munk's  map  Haresund 
is  marked  to  the  East  of  a  great  Bay  or  Strait,  which  may  repre- 
sent North  Bay — a  circumstance  which  so  far  agrees  with  our 
view  ;  but,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter  from  our  notes  on  the  map, 
the  argument  which  might  be  founded  on  this  is  not  so  con- 
clusive that  we  should  like  to  rest  our  opinion  on  it. 

After  a  stay  of  nearly  a  fortnight  at  Haresund,  during  which 
time  the  crew  found  rest  and  refreshment,  while  the  ice  cleared 
away  sufficiently  to  allow  of  unimpeded  navigation,  Munk 
started   again   on  his   voyage   on  August  9th,  steering  W.S.W. 

Page  20  Eariy  the  following  morning,  he  found  himself  opposite  a  coast, 
along  which,  to  use  his  own  words,  "the  pilots  [i.e.,  Gordon  and 
Watson]  steered  a  southerly  course,  supposing  that  we  had 
arrived  in  a  large  bay".  The  only  large  bay  in  which  it  could  be 
proper  for  them  to  follow  the  western  shore  in  a  southerly 
direction  was,  of  course,  Hudson's  Bay  ;  and  the  sequel  shows 
that  they  really  imagined  themselves  to  have  reached  the  latter, 
though  how  they  can  have  made  such  a  mistake  seems  well-nigh 
inexplicable.  It  is  in  looking  for  an  explanation  of  the  indis- 
putable fact  that  they  did  so,  that  we  come  upon  the  point 
alluded   to   above   as   having  a  bearing  on  the  whereabouts  of 

1  Geography  of  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  16. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  87 

Haresund,  and  which  we  may,  therefore,  conveniently  discuss  first.  Rff-  t0 
The  point  is  this :  that  they  could  not  have  come  to  the  conclu-  Text. 


sion  that  they  had  already  entered  Hudson's  Bay  unless  they  page  20 
had  thought  that,  in  leaving  Haresund,  they  had  left  the  western  {continued) 
extremity  of  Hudson's  Strait.  Now  it  is  true  that,  even  if  Watson 
had  been  there  before,  Gordon,  who  no  doubt  took  the  lead,  was 
probably  in  Hudson's  Strait  for  the  first  time  in  his  life ;  nor  had 
as  yet  much  been  published  or  become  generally  known  concern- 
ing this  waterway.  But  this  much  was  known  :  that  the  distance 
from  the  entrance  of  the  Strait  to  the  Bay  was  considerably  in 
excess  of  what  they  had  sailed  to  Haresund,  even  on  their  own 
somewhat  liberal  estimate.  This,  therefore,  they  must  have  over- 
looked or  disregarded ;  but  it  seems  difficult  to  understand  how 
they  could  have  done  so,  unless  the  real  situation  of  Haresund  be 
such  as  to  countenance,  in  some  measure,  the  idea  that  it  was  near 
the  western  extremity  of  the  Strait.  It  is  easy  to  see  both  that  this 
would  be  the  case  if  Haresund  was  Icy  Cove,  or  some  place  in  that 
vicinity,  and  also  that  no  place  near  the  Upper  Savage  Islands  could 
meet  this  requirement.  Had  Haresund  been  in  the  last-named 
neighbourhood,  they  must  have  known  themselves  to  be  still  in 
the  Strait,  on  or  near  the  northern  shore,  and  the  mistake  in 
question  could  not  have  been  committed  ;  but,  if  Haresund  was 
near  Icy  Cove,  the  matter  would  stand  very  differently.  Not  far 
west  of  that  locality  the  coast  takes  a  somewhat  sharp  turn,  and 
trends  away  to  the  north  for  a  considerable  distance  into  the 
North  Bay,  just  as  it  might  be  expected  to  do  at  the  western 
extremity  of  the  Strait.  If,  therefore,  Haresund  was  near  Icy 
Cove,  there  would  be  nothing  in  their  recollection  of  that  place, 
to  prevent  them  from  entertaining  the  idea,  that  the  coast  which 
they  discovered  on  the  morning  of  August  10th  was  the  west  coast 
of  Hudson's  Bay.  It  is  because  that  idea  is  compatible  with  the 
identification  of  Haresund  with  Icy  Cove,  but  not  with  the 
supposition  that  it  was  at  or  near  the  Upper  Savage  Islands,  that 
we  find  a  strong  confirmation  of  our  view  in  the  action  of  the 
pilots  on  the  occasion  in  question. 

In  passing,  we  may  notice  a  fact  which  at  first  sight  might 
appear  to  indicate  that  already,  while  they  were  still  at  Haresund, 
they  imagined  themselves  to  be  at  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
viz.,  that  they  sailed  away  from  thence  towards  the  west-south-west, 
just  as  they  did  afterwards  when  they  had  really  reached  that 


88  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   point.     As,  however,   Munk    expressly  says  that  the   wind   was 

Text.      N.W.,  and  that  they  sailed  as  near  the  wind  as  they  could,  it 

Page  20  f°H°ws  that  their  intention  then  was  to  make  their  way  as  best 

{continued)  they  could  westwards,  as  they  had  done  before ;  and   no  such 

conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  that  circumstance. 

In  resuming  now  the  consideration  of  the  action  of  the  pilots 
in  steering  south  along  the  coast  which  they  saw  before  them  in 
the  morning  of  August  10th,  there  is  another  consideration  which 
renders  it  difficult  to  understand  how  they  can  have  fallen  into 
such  an  error  as  the  one  they  committed.  Very  little  had  appeared 
in  print  concerning  the  west  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay;  but  Purchas 
had  published  at  least  this  much  :  that  Button  had  sailed  200 
leagues  across  the  Bay  before  reaching  the  opposite  shore.  Never- 
theless the  pilots  imagined  that  they  had  crossed  the  Bay  in  a 
single  day  and  short  summer's  night,  sailing  in  the  same  direction 
as  Button  had  done.  It  seems  clear  that  either  Munk's  instruc- 
tions and  the  personal  information  of  the  pilots  must  have  been 
very  imperfect,  or  else  we  must  suppose  that  Gordon  and  Watson, 
when  they,  no  doubt  unexpectedly,  saw  that  coast  before  them 
trending  south,  were  so  taken  aback  that  they  lost  confidence  in 
their  instructions  and  the  information  at  their  disposal,  and  on  a 
sudden  impulse  set  them  both  aside  in  order  to  follow  what 
turned  out  to  be  a  false  scent. 

Whether  Munk  himself,  at  any  time,  or  to  any  extent,  shared  the 
mistake  of  the  pilots  does  not  appear.  An  indication  of  his  having 
done  so  might  perhaps  be  suspected  in  the  fact  that  in  the  printed 
text  Munk  describes  the  coast  which  they  mistook  for  the  West 
Coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  as  "the  western  coast  of  Fretum 
Christian"  But  this  is  not  the  expression  he  originally  intended 
to  use.  The  MS.  had  originally  "southern"  (Syndere),  which  is 
correct,  but  which  has  been  altered  in  the  MS.  into  "western" 
( Vester) ;  nor  is  it  difficult  to  suggest  considerations  which  may 
have  induced  Munk  to  make  this  change.  The  portion  of  the 
coast  in  question  no  doubt  did  trend  from  south  to  north,  and  was 
in  so  far  a  "  western"  coast,  a  circumstance  which  Munk  may  have 
wished  to  emphasise  in  order  to  explain  to  some  extent  how  the 
mistake  ca^ne  about.  Again,  he  may  have  considered  that  the 
epithet  of  southern,  as  applied  to  this  coast,  would  ill  agree  with 
his  subsequent  statement  that  the  pilots  steered  a  southerly  course 
along  it.     But,  in  any  case,  he  plainly  describes  it  as  the  coast  of 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  89 

the  Strait ;  and  his  language  with  reference  to  North  Bay  and  the  Ref.  to 
other   bay   further  west,    to   which   he   alludes    (perhaps  White  Text. 
Strait),  does  not  in  the  least  imply  that  they  were  portions  of  pa     2Q 
Hudson's  Bay,  or  anything  else  than  inlets  from  Hudson's  Strait,  {continued) 
At  the  same  time,  of  course,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Munk 
wrote  his  account  after   his    return    home,    in    accordance    with 
the  fuller  and  more  correct  information  which  he  had  by  that 
time  acquired.     Munk  evidently  wishes  to  decline  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  mistake  and  its  consequences,  and  rightly  so.     As 
the  pilots,  Gordon  in  particular,  had  been  engaged  by  the  King 
especially  with  a  view  to  attempting  the  Passage,  Munk  could 
not  have  taken  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  refusing  to  act 
on  their  suggestion,  even  if  he  doubted  its  wisdom. 

The  printed  text  simply  says  that  the  idea  of  their  having 
arrived  in  a  large  bay  turned  out  a  mistake  ;  but,  in  the 
MS.,  the  following  remarkable  words  are  added :  som  Derres 
Relatsion  Derom  Udviser  (that  is,  "  as  their  relation  concerning  it 
shows").  On  the  face  of  it,  this  passage  seems  to  imply  that 
Munk,  when  he  wrote  it,  had  before  him  some  statement  drawn 
up  by  Gordon  and  Watson  in  which  this  incident  was  referred 
to  ;  and  this  is  in  itself  very  likely.  The  chief  pilots  on  voyages 
of  discovery  often  prepared  such  reports ;  and  Gordon  and 
Watson  may  very  probably  have  utilised  their  enforced  leisure  at 
Churchill  Harbour  for  that  purpose.  Or  Munk  may  refer  to 
some  special  statement  with  regard  to  the  digression  into  Ungava 
Bay,  which  he  may  have  required  of  them  for  his  own  justifica- 
tion in  respect  of  the  great  delay  which  was  caused  thereby  ;  or, 
finally,  it  may  have  been  only  a  journal  of  theirs,  containing  notes 
put  down  from  time  to  time,  in  order  to  serve  as  material  for  a 
report.  But,  in  any  case,  no  such  document  is  now  preserved. 
If  Munk,  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  his  book,  possessed  such 
a  statement,  it  has  shared  the  fate  of  nearly  all  his  other 
papers,  and  we  have  no  means  of  guessing  its  contents  or  of 
knowing  whether  any  valuable  information  has  been  lost  with  it. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  quite  possible  that  Munk  does  not  refer  to 
any  written  statement  before  him  when  he  wrote  his  book,  but 
only  to  explanations  given  by  them  while  on  the  voyage.  In  this 
case  the  present  tense  of  the  verb  udviser  ("  shows  ")  has  simply 
been  transferred  from  his  notes  to  his  MS.  without  being  altered 
to  the  past  tense,  as  is  the  case  in  several  other  places.    On  this  latter 


90  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Ref.  to  supposition,  it  will  be  easily  understood  that  the  passage  was  omitted 
Text,      from  the  printed  text,  as  it  would  have  been  misleading. 


Page  20  There  is  nothing  to  show  with  any  certainty  where  Munk's 
{continued)  land-fall  was  on  the  southern  shore  of  Hudson's  Strait.  A 
W.S.W.  course,  such  as  he  says  that  they  steered  on  leaving 
Haresund,  would,  supposing  this  to  be  at  or  near  Icy  Cove,  carry 
them  to  some  point  near  Stupart's  Bay  ;  but  we  do  not  consider 
it  probable  that  they  struck  the  coast  so  far  west.  It  is  true,  that 
in  that  neighbourhood  the  coast  does  trend  north  and  south, 
and  might  so  far  deceive  them  ;  but  this  direction  is  not  main- 
tained very  far  south.  Between  Stupart's  Bay  and  Cape  Hope's 
Advance  the  coast  forms  a  shallow  bay,  so  that  Munk  and  his 
party  could  not  have  followed  the  coast  into  Ungava  Bay  without 
sailing  for  some  considerable  distance  in  a  south-easterly,  and — 
in  order  to  round  the  Cape — even  in  a  north-easterly,  direction  ; 
and  that  is  not  very  probable.  That  there  is  no  mention  of  it 
in  Munk's  narrative  does  not  prove  anything  in  this  respect, 
because,  as  we  have  already  mentioned  (see  p.  63),  that  portion 
of  it  which  treats  of  the  voyage  from  Haresund  to  Ungava  Bay 
and  back  again  as  far  as  to  Hudson's  Bay,  is  so  much  condensed 
that  there  would  be  nothing  surprising  in  such  a  detail  being 
omitted.  But  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  the  pilots  would  not 
have  found  out  their  mistake  at  once,  if  they  had  found  the  coast 
turning  back  eastwards  and  northwards,  in  the  way  it  does.  As 
already  stated,  there  are  no  means  of  settling  the  point  with  any 
certainty  ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  we  consider  it  most  probable  that 
Munk's  landfall  was  east  of  Cape  Hope's  Advance.  Their  course 
from  Icy  Cove  must  in  that  case  have  been  rather  S.  of  S.W.,  whilst 
Munk  says  that  they  steered  W.S.W. ;  but,  as  the  north  wind 
with  which  they  started  increased  into  a  gale  of  great  violence, 
causing  such  a  tremendous  sea  as  no  one  on  board  had  seen 
before,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  they  had  been  set  consider- 
ably to  the  south-east.  In  fact,  we  hold  that  what  happened  to 
Munk  was  very  much  the  same  which  had  happened  to  Hudson, 
wrho,  setting  out  from  the  Isle  of  God's  Mercy,  somewhere  on  the 
northern  coast  of  the  Strait,  and  steering  S.W.,  found  himself 
embayed  behind  Cape  Hope's  Advance,  and,  following  the  coast 
southwards,  came  into  Ungava  Bay.1 

1  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  vol.  iii,  p.  599. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK  S    NARRATIVE.  91 

Having  reached  the  southern  or  south-western  shore  of  the  Ref.  to 
Strait,  they  sailed  along  it  in  a  southerly  direction  unimpeded  by  ^&t? 
ice,  and  came  at  last  to  what  Munk  describes  as  a  large  pro-  r  — 
montory  in  lat.  6o°.  Munk,  who  gives  very  few  dates  in  this  part  {continued) 
of  his  narrative,  does  not  say  how  long  they  were  in  reaching  this 
point;  but  the  expression  which  he  uses  in  the  MS.,  viz.,  med 
tidens  Laughed  (literally,  "  with  the  length  of  time"),*seems  to  indi- 
cate a  certain  impatience  on  his  part,  as  if  he  had  not  looked  hope- 
fully on  their  proceedings  at  the  time.  From  the  printed  text,  it 
appears  as  if  Munk  had  called  this  promontory  Alecke  Ness  Kap, 
which  would  be  a  curiously-formed  name,  because  Nes  and  Kap 
mean  the  same  thing ;  but  the  last  word  is  not  really  a  part  of  the 
name  finally  intended  by  Munk  for  this  headland.  In  the  MS.  a 
blank  space  is  left  for  the  name,  followed  by  the  word  Kap,  the 
original  intention  having  evidently  been  to  choose  a  name  ending  in 
Kap,  like  Nordkap.  Alecke  Ness  having  been  selected,  the  word 
Kap  ought  to  have  been  omitted,  and  has  remained  only  by  a 
blunder  of  the  copyist.  On  the  map,  the  name  is  simply  Alcenes. 
The  first  part  of  this  name  (of  which  the  proper  spelling  would 
be  Alkenes)  is  no  doubt  derived  from  Alk  (Auk),  and  was 
suggested  by  the  occurrence  of  many  birds  of  that  or  similar 
kinds.  Besides  giving  the  latitude  of  this  promontory  (6o°),  Munk 
states  that  near  it  a  large  bay  enters  into  the  land  in  a  south- 
westerly direction ;  but  the  identification  of  it  is,  nevertheless, 
not  free  from  difficulty,  because  the  coast-line  from  Cape  Hope's 
Advance  southwards  nowhere  presents  any  feature  that  could 
be  described  as  a  promontory.  Mr.  Lauridsen  has  suggested1 
that  Alkenes  may  be  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Island  of  Ekker- 
taujok,  which  lies  so  close  to  the  mainland  that  the  island, 
being  longer  from  east  to  west  than  from  south  to  north,  may 
very  likely  have  presented  itself  to  Munk  as  a  huge  promontory. 
The  eastern  extremity  of  the  island,  moreover,  is  situated  in 
lat-  59°  5°'j  omv  ten  minutes  below  the  latitude  ascribed  to 
Alecke  Nes  Cape.  The  bay  of  which  Munk  speaks,  M.  Lauridsen 
identifies2  with  Hope's  Advance  Bay.  But  this  suggestion,  though 
plausible  enough  in  itself,  and,  as  it  were,  a  step  in  the  right 
direction,   presents,  if  followed    up,    difficulties  which   seem   to 

1  In  his  edition  of  Munk's  Navigatio,  note  22. 

2  Op.  tit.,  note  24. 


92  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Ref-to   demand   a  different   solution.      If  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
Text.      Island    of   Ekkertaujok   be    Munk's   Alkenes,  Munk    must   have 

Page  20  Passec*  through  the  Strait  between  it  and  the  island  of  Akpatok 
{continued)  without  mentioning  the  fact,  which  is  not  at  all  likely,  as  the 
Strait  is  only  a  few  English  miles  wide.  Besides  this,  the 
configuration  of  land  and  sea  would  in  that  case  have  appeared 
to  him  so  remarkable  that  he  could  not  be  supposed  to  have  passed 
it  over  in  silence.  Akpatok  extending,  as  it  does,  about  70  miles 
towards  the  east,  would  not  have  appeared  to  Munk  as  an  island, 
and  the  water  on  which  he  would  have  found  himself  after  passing 
the  Strait  would  not  have  appeared  to  him  as  a  part  of  the  sea  from 
which  he  came,  but  as  a  separate  inland  sea.  Hope's  Advance 
Bay,  too,  cannot  be  described  as  stretching  inwards  due  south- 
west, its  main   extension   being  due  west  ;  nor  could  it  by  any 

Page  21  means  be  named  or  described  as  Synder  Bogt1  (the  South  Bay) 
in  reference  to  the  main  part  of  Ungava  Bay.  Mr.  Lauridsen, 
indeed,  is  of  opinion  that  Munk  mentions  Akpatok  under  the 
name  of  Snee  O eland ;  but  this,  again,  will  not  be  found  to 
agree  with  Munk's  statements.  Of  Snee  Oeland,  Munk  says 
that  its  north-western  extremity  was  very  high  land,  whilst  the 
southern  was  surrounded  by  much  ice,  which  implies  that  the 
island  had  its  main  extension  from  S.E.  to  N.W. ;  but  Akpatok 
is  a  long  narrow  island,  of  which  the  main  extension  is  from  S.W. 
to  N.E.  No  part  of  it  could  possibly  be  described  as  its  north- 
western extremity.  Besides,  Munk  mentions  Snee  Oeland  as 
having  been  approached  on  the  return  journey  when  they  were 
five  Danish  (2  2 \  English)  miles  out  of  Synder  Bugt;  but,  if 
Munk,  as  M.  Lauridsen  thinks,  sailed  between  Ekkertaujok  and 
Akpatok  into  Hope's  Advance  Bay,  he  must  have  passed  Akpatok 
quite  close,  both  going  in  and  coming  out,  and  cannot  possibly 
have  sighted  it  when  about  twenty  English  miles  out. 

It  seems  to  us,  therefore,  much  more  probable  that  Munk, 
following  the  coast  of  the  Strait  southwards  from  Cape  Hope's 
Advance,  at  some  distance  from  the  shore,  failed  to  observe 
both  the  very  narrow  sound  between  Ekkertaujok  and  the 
mainland  and  the  strait  between  that  island  and  Akpatok,  which 

1  It  is  not  quite  certain  that  Synder  bogt — which  does  not  occur  on 
the  map — is  intended  as  a  name.  It  may  be  a  mere  descriptive  epithet, 
but  we  have  found  it  convenient  to  treat  it  as  a  name. 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  93 

although  broader  is  rendered  almost  as  inconspicuous  by  a  small  Ref.  to 

Pa^e  of 

island  lying  close  to  the  south  of  the  opening  and  dividing  the  Text. 
channel.  Munk  would,  in  that  case,  have  taken  the  northern  p  e  ol 
coasts  of  both  of  the  islands  (Ekkertaujok  and  Akpatok)  to  be  the  {continued) 
continuation  of  the  coast  of  the  mainland  round  a  large  bay ; 
and — very  likely  steering  across  this  apparent  bay  at  some 
distance  from  the  land — he  would  have  entered  Ungava  Bay  by 
rounding  the  eastern  point  of  Akpatok,  which  point  lies  in  lat. 
6o°  10',  and  would  be  Munk's  Alecke  Nes.  In  this  case,  Ungava 
Bay  (Munk's  Synder  Bogi)  would  appear  to  him  as  a  portion  of 
the  sea  from  which  he  came,  stretching  away  to  the  S.W., 
as  he  says  that  his  Synder  Bogt  did.  Instead  of  identifying  Snee 
Oeland  with  Akpatok,  as  M.  Lauridsen  prefers  to  do,  we 
consider  that  the  name  is  intended  for  Green  Island,  which  is 
certainly  placed  in  two  different  positions  on  different  maps,  but 
which  in  either  of  the  positions  assigned  to  it  might  very  well 
have  been  approached  by  Munk  at  the  distance  mentioned  by 
him,  N.N.W.  of  the  easternmost  point  of  Akpatok.  On  the 
English  Admiralty  chart,  it  is  expressly  described  as  high  land, 
and  its  main  extension  appears  to  be  from  S.E.  to  N.W.,  which 
perfectly  agrees  with  Munk's  statements. 

On  Munk's  map,  Alkenes  is  not  drawn  as  projecting  so  far 
towards  the  east — almost  cutting  off  Ungava  Bay  from  the 
Strait — as  it  ought  to  have  been  if  representing  the  two  islands 
taken  together  j  but  no  serious  objection  to  our  explanation 
can  be  based  on  this,  as  nothing  is  more  likely  than  that 
Munk,  not  having  penetrated  sufficiently  far  into  the  western 
portion  of  Ungava  Bay,  did  not  know  how  far  the  coast 
receded  on  the  south  side  of  his  Alkenes,  and  how  great, 
therefore,  the  length  of  the  supposed  promontory  was.  Snee 
Oeland  is  placed  on  Munk's  map  far  outside  Ungava  Bay,  and 
can  therefore  not  be  meant  for  Akpatok.  Least  of  all  could 
it  be  identified  with  Akpatok  if  Ekkertaujok  is  identified  with 
Alkenes,  as  in  this  case  Munk  must  have  known  that  the  distance 
between  his  Snee  Oeland  and  his  Alkenes  was  only  as  much  as  a 
few  English  miles. 

Munk's  explanation  of  the  name  Snee  Oeland  (i.e.,  Snow 
Island)  is  curious.  He  says  that  "  inasmuch  as  there  were  many 
birds  flying  to  and  from  the  land,  and  as  it  appeared  white, 
being  covered  with  snow",  they  called  it  Snee  Oeland,   a  name 


94  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O.       . 

Ref.  to  which  might  naturally  be  suggested  by  the  last-mentioned  circum- 

JPctjTg  of 

Text.  stance,  but  has  no  reference  whatever  to  the  abundance  of  birds. 
pa„e  2I  The  presence  of  many  auks  or  similar  birds  may,  on  the  contrary, 
{continued)  very  likely  have  determined  the  choice  of  the  name  of  Alkenes 
for  the  promontory  on  which  he  bestowed  this  name.  There  can 
therefore  be  little  doubt  that  some  confusion  has  here  crept  into 
the  text ;  but,  as  the  printed  book  in  this  respect  agrees  with  the 
MS.,  the  responsibility  falls  in  this  case  on  Munk  himself.  In 
the  printed  text,  we  further  read  that  the  shape  or  appearance  of 
this  land  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  Kort,  which  seems  to 
imply  that  some  special  illustration  of  it  was  intended ;  but  this 
appears  to  be  only  one  of  the  "improver's"  misleading  alterations ; 
for  the  MS.  merely  says  Besee  Kortet  ("See  the  Chart"),  which 
laconic  sentence  seems  to  refer  to  the  whole  of  the  preceding 
account.  As  no  space  is  left  in  the  MS.  for  any  illustration  of 
Snee  6ela?td,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Kort,  in  this  place,  means 
the  general  map,  which  is  inserted  here,  and  in  which  the  position 
of  the  island  is  indicated,  but  this  conveys  no  information  as 
to  its  appearance. 

Munk  says  that,  the  "English  pilot"  (of  course,  Gordon)  at 
first  intimated  that  the  land  bordering  on  the  South  Bay  was  "  the 
place  which  we  searched  for",  but  that  he  soon  revoked  that 
opinion.  The  exact  meaning  of  these  words  we  are  left  to  guess. 
Nothing  is  said  in  Munk's  account  as  to  the  grounds  on  which 
Gordon  concluded  that  he  had  been  mistaken — points  on  which 
it  would  be  of  the  utmost  interest  to  have  had  information.  But 
Munk's  account  of  this  digression  is  much  condensed,  as  if  in 
disgust  of  the  blunder  which  had  led  to  it,  and  by  which  so  much 
valuable  time  was  lost. 

It  was  on  the  14th  of  August  that  they  passed  Snee  Oe/and, 
after  having  left  Ungava  Bay,  making  no  doubt  the  best  of  their 
way  westwards;  but  on  the  20th,  they  had  not  yet  reached 
farther  than  a  point  which  they  might  have  reached  already  on 
the  10th  if  the  pilots  had  not  made  the  mistake  which  brought  them 
into  Ungava  Bay.  Munk  says,  with  evident  satisfaction,  that  they 
were  then  back  in  their  proper  course,  and  the  point  is  determined 
by  Munk's  statements  to  the  effect  that  they  were  in  lat.  620  20', 
and  that  in  that  part  of  the  Strait  the  distance  between  the  land 
on  either  side  was  not  more  than  sixteen  Danish  miles.  This  is, 
in  effect,  the  width  of  the  Strait  in  its  narrowest  part,  between  Big 


COMMENTARY  ON   MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  95 

Island  on  the  north  and  Prince  of  Wales's  Island  on  the  south  ;  Ref-  t(> 

Page  of 

and  the  fact  that  Munk  makes  an  accurate  statement  on  the  Text. 
subject  is  rather  remarkable ;  for  he  says  at  the  same  time  that,  p     e  2I 
on  account  of  fog,  they  could  not  see  land  on  either  side.     From  {continued) 
this  latter  circumstance,  it  follows  that  Munk  must  either  have 
inserted  this  statement  when  he  wrote  his  book,  on  information 
obtained   afterwards,   or   else  that   he   had  been  supplied   with 
the  information  at  the  time  from  some  source  other  than  his  own 
observation.     Munk  may  have  passed  this  part  of  the  Strait  on 
the  homeward  voyage  in  1620  in  clear  weather,  and  may  have 
guessed  that  this  was  the  place  where  he  had  found  himself  on 
the  20th  of  August  the  year  before ;  but  the  passage  reads  as  if 
they  knew,  when  they  sailed  up  in  1619,  that  in  that  part  of  the 
Strait  the  width  was  only  about  16  Danish  miles. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  may  be  observed  that,  after  the  return  from 
Ungava  Bay,  no  more  mistakes  were  committed  in  navigation,  and 
they  seem  after  that  event  to  have  proceeded  on  their  business, 
knowing  what  they  were  about.  If  that  impression  is  true,  it 
would  prove  that  the  mistake  committed  in  steering  south  on  the 
10th  of  August  was  caused,  not  by  want  of  information,  but  by 
an  error  of  judgment,  a  neglect  of  the  information  which  they 
possessed,  and  by  which  they  ought  to  have  let  themselves  be 
guided. 

That  they  had  employed  six  days  in  coming  up  from  Ungava 
Bay  to  the  place  in  the  Strait  where  they  found  themselves  on 
the  20th  of  August,  was  no  doubt  caused  by  adverse  winds  ;  foi 
Munk  says  that  on  that  day  the  wind  became  easterly,  and  that 
they  accordingly  set  their  course  west-by-north,  implying  that  they 
had  hitherto  been  unable  to  follow  a  direct  course  up  the  Strait. 
At  some  later  time,  which  is  not  indicated,  they  appear  to  have 
changed  their  direction  for  a  more  northerly  one — W.N.W.  half  N. 
— on  which  course  they  continued  until  they  reached  lat.  630  20', 
the  most  northerly  point  specified  in  Munk's  account  of  his 
expedition.  Here  it  must  be  inferred  that  they  again  changed 
their  course  for  a  more  southerly  one  ;  but  there  is  no  direct  state- 
ment to  this  effect  in  Munk's  narrative;  nor  is  there  any  indication 
of  the  date  when  they  did  reach  the  latitude  of  630  20'.  As  we 
have  already  pointed  out  more  than  once,  the  whole  account  of 
the  sailing  down  to  and  up  from  Ungava  Bay,  until  Hudson's 
Bay  was   reached,    is   extremely   condensed.       In   this   portion, 


g6  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   Munk  gives  only  such  general  statements  as  "In  Summa,  we 
Text.      sailed  W.N.W.,   etc.,"  after  which  he  introduces  various  Items ; 


Page  21  cu^ed  from  his   notes   and  very   loosely  connected   with  each 

continued)  other. 

Munk  states  that,  on  their  way  to  the  point  where  they  reached 
the  latitude  of  630  20',  they  had  been  at  several  localities,  of 
Page  22  which  he  says  that  they  "are  not  now  named  here,  but  will  be 
found  pictured  and  described  with  diligence  in  the  sea-chart 
which  has  been  prepared  to  show  this,  according  to  their 
dimensions,  quantity,  quality,  size  and  shape."  A  small  hand  is 
inserted  in  this  place  as  a  mark  of  reference.  There  is,  however, 
no  map  or  plate  annexed  to  the  book  showing  any  such  thing, 
but  only  the  general  map  already  mentioned,  which  is  marked 
with  a  hand.  If  anyone  should  conclude,  from  the  absence  of 
such  a  chart,  that  anything  originally  intended  for  the  reader  had 
been  omitted  or  suppressed,  a  glance  at  the  MS.  would  at  once 
undeceive  him.  There  is  in  the  MS.  no  trace  of  this  grandilo- 
quent announcement,  which  is  doubtless  due  solely  to  the  literary 
"  improver",  whose  handiwork  we  have  met  with  in  several  places, 
more  particularly  in  references  to  the  illustrations.  Munk's  MS. 
simply  says,  "  which  are  not  now  here  described,  [but]  which  are, 
nevertheless,  indicated  on  the  accompanying  map  number," 
after  which  a  large  space  is  left  open.  Accordingly,  where  Munk 
in  the  sequel  speaks  of  fisver,  Soster,  and  Digses  Eyland^  there 
is  in  the  MS.  a  "  N."  and  a  blank  space  for  the  number  to  be 
inserted  when  the  map  should  be  ready.  This  plan,  however, 
was  not  ultimately  followed :  the  names  were  inserted  on  the 
map  itself,  and,  numbers  having  thus  become  superfluous, 
there  is  no  allusion  to  any  such  in  the  printed  text.  From 
Munk's  words,  in  the  MS.  as  well  as  in  the  printed  text,  one 
would  expect  to  find  not  a  few  places  indicated  on  the  map 
which  are  not  referred  to  in  the  text;  but,  whatever  be  the 
reason,  this  is  the  case  with  two  only  ;  and  that  Munk  does  not 
allude  more  particularly  to  them  in  his  narrative  is  no  doubt 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  not  visited  these  places,  but  only 
passed  by  them.  The  expression  used  in  the  printed  text,  vare 
wi paa  ("  were  we  at  ")  is  ambiguous  ;  but  the  MS.  says  plainly 
they  modte  under  the  localities  in  question,  which  signifies  that 
they  "sailed  close  by"  them.  Under  these  circumstances,  Munk 
could  not,  of  course,  have  much  to  say  concerning  them.     One 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  97 

of  them  is  Sydernes  ("the  South  Cape"),  which  name  applies  to  Ref-  t0 
some  headland  on  the  southern  coast  which  can  scarcely  be  any  Text. 
other  than  that  on  Prince  of  Wales  Island.    The  other  name  which  pa      22 
occurs  on  the  map,  but  not  in  the  text,  is  Koldenes  (the  "  Cold  [continued) 
Cape"),    on    the    northern    coast,    which    clearly    represents    the 
southern  extremity  of  Big   Island,  where  the  coast  commences 
to    trend   northwards.       It   would   appear   that    Munk   followed 
this  coast  for  some  distance  northwards,  as   some  of  its   main 
features  are  represented  on  his  map ;  and  it  was  very  likely  near 
it,    somewhere   near   Fair   Ness,    that   he   reached    his   highest 
recorded  latitude.1 

As  it  is  evident  that  Munk  entered  Hudson's  Bay  near  Digges 
Islands,  it  follows  of  necessity  that  at  some  point  or  other  he 
must  have  substituted — as  we  mentioned  above — a  south- 
westerly course  for  the  more  northerly  one  which  had  brought  him 
into  lat.  63°  20'.  But  his  narrative  does  not  supply  us  with  any 
direct  information  as  to  the  navigation  between  the  point  from 
which  he  adopted  a  more  southerly  course  and  his  arrival  at 
Hudson's  Bay.  He  only  communicates  one  "  item"  of  his  obser- 
vations, which  has  reference  to  certain  high  islands  which  he 
passed  ;  and  there  is  nothing  whatever  to  show  that  he  did  not, 
on  this  part  of  his  voyage,  notice  other  localities,  which  for  some 
reason  or  other,  he  did  not  mention  in  his  account. 

The  first  locality  mentioned  by  Munk  near  the  western  extremity 
of  Hudson's  Strait  is  this  group  of  "high  islands",  to  which  he 
gives  the  name  of  Iisver?  no  doubt  on  account  of  their  being 
surrounded  or  covered  with  much  ice.  He  says  that  they  are 
marked  on  the  map  ;  but  this  is  not  the  case,  the  name  only 
being  found  there,  viz.,  close  to  the  southern  coast,  and  just 
within  the  western  extremity  of  the  Strait.  For  the  identification 
of  these  islands,  we  find,  in  this  place,  only  the  indirect  informa- 
tion that  a  sail  of  somewhat  more  than  ten  Danish  miles  from 
them  in  a  westerly  direction  brings  one  near  to  the  entrance 
into  Hudson's  Bay ;  but,  in  his  account  of  the  return  voyage, 
Munk  states  that  he  left  them  to  starboard,  and  that  they  were 


1  On  Sydernes  and  Koldenes,  see  our  observations  on  Munk's  map. 

2  This  rather  remarkable  name  seems  formed  in  analogy  with 
several  words  in  Icelandic  ending  in  ver,  and  indicating  places 
near  the  sea  where  some  animals  or  other  objects  abound. 

4 


98  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Rtf-  t0  situated  close  to  the  mainland.  These  data,  taken  together,  apply 
Text.  to  no  other  land  in  this  neighbourhood  than  Charles's  Island, 
Page  22  wmch  we  must  suppose  that  he  took  for  a  group  of  islands. 
(continued)  That  it  does  present  this  appearance  from  some  points  of  view 
or  under  some  circumstances  may  be  inferred  from  Capt.  Coats' 
statement  that  "Cape  Charles  are  a  cluster  of  islands  90  miles  east 
from  Cape  Digges,  the  northernmost  of  which  is  in  the  latitude  of 
62°  55-"1  As  will  be  shown  more  fully  in  our  observations  on 
the  map,  we  consider  that  Charles  Island  (Munk's  Iisver)  is  repre- 
sented on  Munk's  map  by  a  portion  of  the  southern  coast  of 
Hudson's  Strait,  just  above  the  name.  Next  to  Iisver,  Munk 
mentions  two  islands  which  he  calls  Soster  (on  the  map  Systerne — 
"the  Sisters"),  no  doubt  on  account  of  their  being  somewhat 
similar  and  close  together.  Unfortunately,  these  islands  are  not 
marked  distinctly  on  Munk's  map,  any  more  than  his  Iisver, 
and  the  name  is  misplaced  far  to  the  north  of  Munk's  track — 
apparently  in  order  to  make  room  for  a  representation  of  a  ship. 
For  the  identification  of  them,  we  are,  therefore,  altogether  left  to 
inference  from  Munk's  text.  In  this,  he  says  that  one  sights  these 
islands  "  after  advancing  about  ten  miles  westwards",  which,  in 
the  absence  of  any  other  indication,  must  mean  westwards  from 
the  last-named  locality,  viz.,  the  Iisver.  Looking  merely  at  a 
map,  one  is  tempted  to  suspect  that  Salisbury  and  Nottingham 
Islands  may  be  Munk's  Soster,  though  they  are  perhaps  rather 
too  far  apart  to  merit  the  name  of  "  Sisters".  This  is,  indeed, 
Mr.  Lauridsen's  view;2  but  Munk's  further  statements  con- 
cerning his  Soster  will  not,  we  believe,  allow  of  their  being 
identified  with  any  other  islands  than  the  two  largest  of  the 
Digges  Islands.  Munk  implies  very  unmistakeably  that  they 
were  situated  at  the  very  entrance  to  Hudson's  Bay,  on  the  direct 
route,  which  is  most  emphatically  the  case  with  the  Digges  Islands, 
but  not  with  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands.  Munk  further 
states  that  he  sailed  round  the  Soster  sounding — a  proceeding 
which,  if  the  latter  are  meant,  was  as  meaningless  as  it  would  be 
tedious,  and  even  difficult,  on  account  of  the  strong  currents  and 
the  abundance  of  drift-ice  round  them.  But  it  could  easily  be 
performed  in  the  case  of  the  Digges  Islands,  and  would  be  quite 

1  Geography  of  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  3 1 . 

2  See  his  edition  of  Munk's  Navigation  note  26. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  99 

intelligible,  because  it  would  be  of  interest  to  know  whether,  in  RCf.  to 
entering  the  Bay,  it  was  preferable  to  keep  outside  the  islands  or  to  *^&  °f 
pass  between  them  and  the  mainland,  as  both  Hudson  and  Button 


had  done  (of  which,  however,  Munk  was  probably  not  aware),  [continued) 
and  as  he  himself  afterwards  did  when  homeward  bound.  Munk 
recommends  the  outer  route,  north  of  the  islands,  which  is  quite 
to  be  expected  if  the  Soster  are  taken  to  be  Digges  Islands,  but 
which  would  be  a  very  strange  piece  of  advice  if  the  former  are 
identical  with  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands — as  a  glance  at 
any  map  showing  their  relative  positions  will  prove.  To  this  may 
be  added  that,  according  to  Munk's  subsequent  statements,  a 
westerly  course  from  his  Soster  brings  a  navigator  to  Mansfield 
Island,  which  applies  correctly  to  Digges  Islands,  whereas  a 
westerly  course  from  Nottingham  Island  would  lead  to  a  quite 
different  place  at  the  northern  extremity  of  Hudson's  Bay.  We 
believe  that  Digges  Islands  (Munk's  Soster)  are  represented  on 
his  map  by  the  peculiar  projection  of  the  land  at  the  junction 
between  the  south  coast  of  Hudson's  Strait  and  the  east  coast  of 
Hudson's  Bay.  To  this  point,  the  name  would  have  referred 
distinctly  if  it  had  not  been  moved  towards  the  north. 

Before  proceeding  further,  we  may  notice  a  consideration  which 
might  be  looked  upon  as  presenting  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  our 
identifications — viz.  that,  if  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands  are 
not  represented  by  Munk's  Soster,  we  shall  have  to  admit  that  he 
does  not  mention  them  at  all,  although  he  can  scarcely  be 
supposed  not  to  have  seen  them.  It  is  true  that  Salisbury  Island 
appears  to  be  rather  low ;  nor  does  Nottingham  Island,  though 
more  rocky,  appear  to  attain  any  great  elevation  ;  but  almost  all 
navigators  who  have  described  a  voyage  through  Hudson's  Strait 
mention  them ;  and  it  would  not  be  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  were  obscured  by  fog  on  both  occasions  when  Munk 
passed  them.  In  itself,  this  consideration  would  not  be  of 
sufficient  weight  to  counterbalance  to  any  extent  the  argument 
which  we  have  adduced  in  favour  of  .our  view ;  but  it  would, 
nevertheless,  present  a  difficulty  in  the  interpretation  of  Munk's 
narrative,  if  this  portion  of  it  made  any  sort  of  pretension  to 
completeness.  This,  however,  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  is 
by  no  means  the  case.  If  Munk  had  given  a  fairly  full  account 
of  this  portion  of  the  voyage,  stating  day  by  day  how  they  sailed, 
and  what  places  they  passed,  and  if  nevertheless  there  were  no 

7'1 


100  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Ref.  to   references  to  these  two  islands,  it  would  certainly  have  been  strange. 
Text.      But  Munk  does  nothing  of  the  kind.    He  gives  no  account  at  all  of 


Page  22  nis  sailing  through  the  westernmost  part  of  the  Strait,  but  only  an 
[continued)  isolated  statement  about  the  Iisver,  which  seem  to  have  attracted 
his  particular  notice.  Under  these  circumstances,  there  is  nothing 
extraordinary  in  the  silence  of  the  text  concerning  Salisbury  and 
Nottingham  Islands.  There  is  the  less  occasion  for  founding 
any  conclusions  on  this,  as  the  two  islands,  if  we  mistake  not, 
are  marked  on  Munk's  map,  though  wrongly  placed,  viz.,  close  to 
what  represents  the  western  coast  of  Meta  Incognita.  The  only 
other  islands  which  these  could  be  supposed  to  represent,  if  not 
meant  for  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands,  would  be  the  Digges 
Islands  ;  but  the  position  of  these  islands,  at  the  very  entrance  to 
Hudson's  Bay,  is  so  striking  that  Munk  cannot  be  supposed  to 
have  misplaced  them  on  the  map  so  far  inside  the  Strait.  It  is 
far  more  probable  that  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands  have 
been  pushed  somewhat  towards  the  east;  nor  is  it  difficult  to 
suggest  explanations  of  this  error.  The  place  where  the  two  islands 
ought  to  have  been  marked  is  occupied  by  the  figure  of  a  ship ;  and 
it  is  quite  possible  that  the  two  islands  may  have  been  crowded 
out  by  that  figure,  just  as  the  name  of  Systrene  thereby  has  been 
pushed  up  towards  the  northern  coast,  and  as — in  another  part  of 
the  map — the  name  Munckenes  has  been  displaced  by  the  figure  of 
a  ship  to  such  an  extent  that  it  seems  to  apply  to  the  island  in  the 
entrance  of  the  Strait.  Or  the  fact  may,  perhaps,  with  more  proba- 
bility be  explained  by  assuming  that  Munk,  when  he  came  to  work 
up  his  notes,  did  not  find  them  sufficiently  explicit ;  and,  more 
particularly,  that,  although  he  had  seen  Salisbury  and  Nottingham 
Islands,  he  was  not  clear  about  their  position.  This  explanation 
we  are  so  much  the  more  inclined  to  adopt,  as  it  would  also  go 
far  to  account  for  Munk's  brevity  in  dealing  with  this  part  of  his 
voyage,  and  particularly  for  his  omitting  all  mention  of  the  two 
islands  in  his  text. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  these  islands,  we  may  mention  that 
our  identification  of  Munk's  Iisver  differs  from  that  of  M.  Lauridsen, 
the  only  other  writer  who  has  approached  this  subject.  According 
to  him,1  Iisver  are  the  Digges  Islands,  an  opinion  which  is  as 
contradictory   to   his  own  identification   of  Munk's    Soster  with 

1  See  his  edition  of  Munk's  Navigatio,  note  26. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S   NARRATIVE.  IOI 

Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands  as  it  is  with  Munk's  text  ;  for  Ref-  t0 

Page  of 

according  to  the  latter,  the  Iisver  are  to  be  sought  for  ten  Danish  Text 
miles  east  both  of  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  and  of  the  Soster;  but  page  22 
Digges  Islands  are  at  the  very  entrance  of  the  Bay,  and  situated  [continued) 
to  the  south-west  of  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands. 

Munk  next  states  that,  proceeding  westwards  from  these  islands, 
one  comes  to  a  large  flat  island,  which  he  calls  Digses  Eyland. 
Munk's  description  of  this,  and  his  statements  with  regard  to  its 
position,  leave  no  doubt  of  its  being  what  we  call  Mansfield 
Island ;  and  it  has  been  recognised  as  such  already  by  M.  Ravn,1 
whom  M.  Lauridsen  follows.2  Munk's  transfer,  however,  of  the 
name  of  Digges  Island  to  Mansfield  Island  requires  an  explana- 
tion. M.  Lauridsen  has  suggested  that  Munk  may  have  been 
misled  by  the  fact  that,  on  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map,  Mansfield 
Island  is  marked,  but  not  named,  and,  at  the  same  time,  placed 
so  near  to  the  Digges  Islands  as  almost  to  form  a  group  with 
them,  and  he  thinks  that  Munk  may  have  supposed  that  the 
name  "Digges  Ilandt"  was  meant  for  the  largest  of  that  group. 
This  is,  of  course,  quite  possible  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to  us 
altogether  probable ;  for  the  name  in  question  is  printed  on  the 
map  above  Mansfield  Island,  in  a  slanting  position,  pointing  quite 
unmistakeably  to  the  largest  of  the  Digges  Islands,  and  not  at  all 
to  Mansfield  Island.  There  are,  moreover,  circumstances  which 
seem  to  indicate  that  Munk  deliberately  proposed  what  he  knew  to 
be  an  innovation  as  regards  this  name.  Whilst  the  Soster  are 
mentioned  by  name  in  the  MS.,  space  being  left  open  only  for  a 
reference  number,  the  space  for  the  name,  as  well  as  for  the  number, 
of  the  long  flat  island  to  the  west  of  them  is  left  blank.  From 
this  we  may  infer  that  he  named  the  former  in  his  notes,  but  did 
not  give  a  name  to  the  latter  till  his  book  went  to  press.  We 
may  notice  also  that,  where  the  name  occurs  a  second  time  (see 
p.  23),  the  expression  used  in  the  printed  text  (not  in  the  MS.)  is, 
"that  which  is  now  called  Digses  Eyland".  This  is  precisely  the 
phrase  which  Munk  uses  elsewhere  in  introducing  a  new  name — 
a  phrase,  besides,  which  would  be  meaningless  if  Munk  employed 
the  name  as  it  had  been  employed  by  his  predecessors.  Taking 
these  facts  into  due  consideration,  we  find  it  most  probable  that 


1  Dansk  Maanedskrift,  i860,  p.  91. 

2  See  his  edition  of  Munk's  Navigation  note  27, 


102  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   when  Munk  came  to  consider  finally  the  question  of  these  names, 

Page  of 

Text.      he   decided   to   retain   that  of  "the   Sisters",   which   may  have 

Page  22  aPPeared  to  him  particularly  appropriate,  although  he  was  aware 

(continued)  that  on  Gerritsz.'s  map  the  largest  of  them  was  named  Digges 

Ilandt ;  and  that  he  transferred  at  the  same  time  the  name  of 

Digges  Ilandt  to  the  much  larger  island,  not  far  off,  which  had 

so  greatly  attracted  his  attention,  and  which,  as  far  as  he  was 

aware,  was  nameless.     It  had  indeed  been  named  by  Button  ; 

but  his  account  had  not  yet  been  published.1 

Page  23       Concerning  Mansfield  Island,  too,  Munk  states  that  he  sailed 

round  it  sounding,  as  he  had  done  in  the  case  of  "the  Sisters" — 

presumably  in  order  to  compare  the  passages  east  and  west  of  it. 

When  clear  of  the  islands,  near  the  western  extremity  of 
Hudson's  Strait,  Munk  found  himself  at  length  in  that  mysterious 
inland  sea  which  had  been  discovered  (or  rather  rediscovered 
by  Hudson)  nine  years  before,  and  which  was  then  and  for 
long  after  confidently  expected  to  lead  to  the  much-sought-for 
Passage.  Munk  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of  Novum  Mare,  or 
(as  it  is  on  the  map)  Novum  Mare  Christian;  and  he  was  perfectly 
justified  in  proposing  a  name  for  it,  because  at  that  time  it  had 
no  name  as  a  whole.  The  southern  portion,  which  Hudson 
himself  had  explored,  was  called  by  his  name,  while  the  western 
portion  went  by  the  name  of  Button's  Bay.  Munk's  book  is  the 
earliest  in  which  this  sea  is  found  treated  of  as  a  whole,  and  his 
map  is  the  earliest  on  which  it  is  represented  in  its  entirety.  His 
name,  therefore,  has  theoretically  every  claim  to  general  adoption. 
In  England,  however,  where  Munk's  book  did  not  become  known 
till  long  after,  the  name  of  Hudson's  Bay  soon  came  to  be  applied 
to  the  whole  of  it :  and,  as  the  land  around  it  came  under 
English  dominion,  the  English  name  has  prevailed.  For  the 
same  reason,  the  name  of  Nova  Dania,  which  Munk  bestowed 
on  the  country  round  his  wintering  place,  never  came  into 
general  use  and  become  obsolete,  like  several  other  names  which 
have  been  proposed  for  it. 


1  The  name  given  by  Button  was  really  Mansell  Island,  after  his 
relative.  Admiral  Sir  Robert  Mansell.  It  seems,  however,  at  a  very 
early  date  to  have  been  corrupted  into  Mansfield  Island,  which  is  now 
generally  received  (See  Miller  Christy,  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James, 
p.  188  n.). 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  103 

Perhaps  at  no  point  in  Munk's  voyage  do  we  miss  the  guidance  Ref-  to 
which  a  knowledge  of  Munk's  instructions  would  have  afforded  Text. 
us,  more  than  at  his  setting  out  on  this  "  New  Sea".  Up  to  this  p  „ 
point,  they  can  scarcely  have  contained  much  of  special  interest,  {continued) 
because  Munk  had,  in  any  case,  to  make  his  way  through  Hudson's 
Strait ;  and  it  would  be  an  object  to  reach  the  sea  beyond  as 
early  as  possible  in  the  year.  But,  arrived  at  the  western 
extremity  of  the  Strait,  Munk  had  more  than  one  course  to 
choose  between,  and  it  would  have  been  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  know  what  he  was  enjoined  to  do,  and  why.  Some  light  is 
thrown  upon  the  question  by  the  account  of  the  diversion  into 
Ungava  Bay.  On  that  occasion,  as  soon  as  they  thought  that 
they  had  arrived  at  the  western  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay,  they 
turned  immediately  southwards,  following  the  coast  while  searching 
for  a  certain  place.  What  sort  of  place  this  was,  how  it  was  to 
be  recognised,  with  what  object  it  was  sought,  we  are  not  told. 
In  regard  to  these  and  similar  questions,  we  are  left  to  form 
inferences  from  what  was  actually  done  afterwards ;  but,  bearing 
those  proceedings  in  mind,  we  need  not  feel  surprise  at  seeing 
Munk,  as  soon  as  he  really  was  in  the  Bay,  unhesitatingly  steer 
across  it  in  a  south-westerly  direction  in  search  of  the  southern 
portion  of  the  opposite  shore. 

Of  the  crossing,  Munk  gives  but  few  particulars.  As  we  have 
already  observed,  the  account  of  his  voyage  from  August  20th  to 
September  7th  is  a  good  deal  condensed,  in  comparison  with  the 
earlier  and  later  portions,  and  we  have  suggested  that  in  a  measure 
this  may  have  been  caused  by  some  imperfection  of  his  notes. 
Generally  speaking,  however,  this  brevity  is  probably  to  be 
explained  simply  by  supposing  that  Munk  did  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  recount  day  by  day  the  incidents  of  the  navigation 
between  the  two  dates  mentioned,  during  which  time  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  set  foot  on  land.  He  wrote,  apparently,  not  so 
much  with  a  view  of  narrating  the  voyage  itself,  as  to  give  an 
account  of  the  places  visited  and  the  fate  of  the  expedition ;  nor 
can  he  have  foreseen  that  these  details  would  have  an  interest 
for  historians  centuries  after  his  own  time.  The  mere  sailing 
with  both  the  ships  across  the  Atlantic,  up  the  Strait  and  across 
the  Bay,  would  not,  of  course,  supply  him  with  such  materials 
for  a  stirring  or  even  readable  account  as  he  found  in  their  first 
experiences  in  Arctic  travelling — their  danger  and  adventures  in 


104  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   the  ice>  their  meeting  with  the  natives,  of  which  we  read  in  the 

Text.      first  part  of  the  narrative — or  in   the  gradual  succumbing  of  the 

Page  23  crew>   and  the  dangerous  return  voyage,  afterwards  told.      The 

{continued)  tragic    fate    of    the    expedition,    and    the    responsibility   which 

naturally   would    be   laid    upon    Munk   in    this    respect,    would, 

besides,    afford    every    inducement    for  him  to  give  as   detailed 

an  account  of  their  winter  life  as  he  could. 

Munk  says  that  the  course  from  the  north  end  of  his  Digses 
Eyland  (Mansfield  Island)  to  the  harbour  where  he  wintered  is 
S.W.  by  S.  and  S.W.,  and  that,  when  one  comes  into  30  fathoms, 
one  may  steer  more  southerly  until  the  land  comes  into  sight.  He 
also  says  that  it  is  a  sail  of  three  days  and  three  nights ;  but  it  is 
not  quite  clear  whether  this  statement  is  meant  to  indicate  the 
time  actually  consumed  or  the  time  which  ordinarily  would  be 
required  for  the  crossing,  nor  whether  that  space  of  time  is 
supposed  to  cover  the  whole  passage  or  only  so  much  of  it  as 
should  be  sailed  S.W.  by  S.  and  S.W.  In  any  case,  a  glance  at 
a  chart  indicating  the  depth  of  the  water  shows  the  correctness 
of  Munk's  direction,  as  far  as  it  goes.  Inasmuch  as  nobody  is 
known  to  have  been  in  the  harbour  of  Churchill  before  Munk, 
and  as  he  only  once  sailed  straight  across  the  Bay  to  Churchill, 
the  sailing-direction  in  question  cannot  have  been  supplied  to 
Munk  from  any  other  source,  nor  can  it  be  the  result  of  repeated 
experience  on  his  own  part.  It  is  simply  a  statement  as  to  how 
he  came  there.  Acting,  as  it  seems,  on  his  instructions,  he  sailed 
across  the  Bay  in  a  south-westerly  direction,  until  the  decreasing 
depth  indicated  that  he  was  nearing  the  opposite  coast.  He  then 
turned  south  to  follow  it,  found  himself  embayed  behind  Cape 
Churchill,  and  accidentally  discovered  Port  Churchill,  into  which 
he  entered,  being  obliged  to  seek  shelter. 
Page  24  Munk  says  that  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  got  into  this 
harbour,  on  account  of  the  severe  weather  which  prevailed,  and 
which  also,  as  he  implies,  was  the  cause  of  both  ships  not  coming 
in  together.  He  says  that  in  the  storm  Lamprenen  had  strayed 
(var forvildet)  from  them;  and,  if  nothing  else  had  been  said  abo'ut 
the  movements  of  the  sloop,  the  natural  interpretation  of  Munk's 
words  would  be  that  the  two  vessels  had  lost  each  other  in  the 
gale  and  fog  which  he  mentions.  But  he  says  immediately 
afterwards  that  the  sloop  rejoined  him  on  September  9th,  and 
that  she  had  been  along  the  coast  to  the  north,  where  an  opening 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  105 

had  been  supposed  to  exist,  which,  however,  turned  out  not  to  be  Rff.  to 

rr  777  Page  of 

the  case.    It  is  not  in  the  least  probable  that  the  party  in  the  sloop,  Text. 


if  they  had  accidentally  lost  the  other  vessel  in  a  violent  gale,  pa„e  2. 
would  have  gone  off  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  towards  the  north,  {continued) 
They  would  most  certainly  have  had  other  things  to  think  of;  nor 
would  they  have  been  able  to  do  exploration  work  in  such  stress 
of  weather  as  Munk  describes.  We  consider  it  far  more  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  separation  of  the  vessels  was  not  accidental 
but  intentional,  and  that  the  word  forvildet  (i  e.,  lost  or  strayed) 
does  not  refer  to  the  departure  of  the  sloop,  but  to  her  failing  to 
rejoin  the  larger  vessel  as  expected. 

The  point  above  raised  is  of  considerable  importance,  be- 
cause Munk's  map  is  the  earliest  published  on  which  the  West 
Coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  is  laid  down.  The  only  part  of  this  coast 
which  Munk  can  have  known  from  his  own  observation,  is  that 
along  which  he  sailed,  on  his  homeward  voyage,  in  order  to  round 
the  ice-belt  which  held  him  to  the  shore  ;  but  much  more  than 
that  is  shown  on  his  map,  and  that  not  very  incorrectly.  If 
Munk  derived  the  knowledge  by  which  he  delineated  the  coast 
from  observations  made  on  his  own  expedition,  it  must  have 
been  from  the  explorations  of  Watson  in  the  sloop.  These 
would  necessarily  require  more  time  and  more  favourable  circum- 
stances than  is  compatible  with  the  supposition  that  the  sloop 
was  only  accidentally  separated  from  the  larger  vessel  by  stress 
of  weather,  shortly  before  the  arrival  at  Churchill  River.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  we  suppose  that  the  sloop  had  been  sent 
away  on  purpose  some  time  before,  all  difficulties  in  that  respect 
disappear. 

Our  view  of  the  matter  is,  therefore,  that  the  party  in  the  sloop 
had  been  sent  off  by  Munk  in  a  westerly  direction  when  they  first 
entered  Hudson's  Bay,  with  orders  to  explore,  with  special 
reference  to  the  reported  existence  of  a  passage  there,  as  much 
of  the  northern  part  of  the  west  coast  as  they  could  manage  to 
examine  within  a  certain  time,  and  that,  after  so  doing,  they  were 
ordered  to  proceed  southwards  along  the  west  coast,  in  order  to 
rejoin  the  frigate  in  a  certain  latitude.  We  suppose  that  Munk 
meanwhile  examined  the  localities  near  the  entrance  of  Hudson's 
Bay  ;  and  after  that  crossed  the  ;Bay,  making  for  the  point  where 
he  had  ordered  the  sloop  to  meet  him.  Finally,  we  take  Munk's 
words  that    the    sloop    was  forvildet   to    mean  that,    not  seeing 


106  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

/Wo/  ner  in  the  appointed  neighbourhood,  he  concluded  that  she  had 
Text.      missed  him  on  account  of  the  bad  weather. 


Page  24  If  it  should  be  objected  that  it  would  be  a  hazardous  thing 
[continued)  t^us  t0  separate  the  vessels  and  trust  to  their  meeting  again  at 
some  such  distant  rendezvous,  we  would  observe  that,  although 
they  cannot  have  known  anything  about  Churchill  Harbour,  they 
most  likely  were  well  aware  that  Button  had  sailed  right  across 
the  "  New  Sea"  in  a  south-westerly  direction,  and  had  there  found 
a  coast  stretching  far  towards  the  north.  They  may  have  known 
within  what  latitudes  the  coast  which  he  had  discovered  was 
situated ;  and  they  may  very  reasonably  have  considered  that 
they  would  not  have  any  difficulty  in  finding  each  other  on  that 
coast  again  in  a  given  latitude. 

Munk  says  that  the  sloop  had  been  under  det  Norreland 
("under  the  northern  land") — which  expression,  of  course,  must 
mean  that  part  of  the  west  coast  of  the  Bay  which  was  north  of 
Churchill  River.  But  the  Norreland  may  perfectly  well  be  under- 
stood as  comprising  what  he  called  "the  mainland  on  the  north 
side",  and  which  he  came  to  on  August  nth,  1620  (see  p.  53). 

It  is,  of  course,  much  to  be  regretted  that  Munk  does  not 
give  any  account  of  the  search  for  the  Passage  which  was 
carried  out  by  the  sloop ;  but  he  may  very  naturally  have  thought 
it  not  worth  while,  as  the  search  was  fruitless.  We  shall  refer 
again  to  this  matter  in  our  observations  on  Munk's  map. 

The  Wintering  at  Port  Churchill. 

We  have  hitherto  referred  to  Munk's  wintering-place  as  if 
there  were  no  uncertainty  as  to  his  having  wintered  at  Port 
Churchill ;  nor  is  there  in  reality  any  occasion  at  all  for  doubt 
on  the  subject.  Both  the  ample  description  which  Munk  gives 
of  the  locality  in  his  text,  and  the  bird's-eye  view  which  is 
shown  on  the  woodcut  facing  p.  23,  apply  so  exactly  to 
Churchill  Harbour,  and  to  that  alone  of  all  the  places  on  the 
coast,  as  to  exclude  all  uncertainty ;  besides  which,  the  fact  of 
Munk  having  wintered  at  Port  Churchill  had  been  demonstrated 
by  the  discovery  of  unmistakable  relics  of  his  sojourn  there,  even 
before  the  geographical  features  of  the  place  became  sufficiently 
known  to  admit  of  the  coincidence  of  his  description  with  the 
real  configuration  of  Churchill  Harbour  being  recognised.     We 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNKS    NARRATIVE.  IO/ 

shall  have  an  opportunity  hereafter  for  adverting  to  these  facts  Rcf-  to 

.  ....  -  Page  of 

more  fully ;  but  it  will  be  proper  here  to  mention  that,  in  spite  of  Text. 
the  convincing  nature  of  the  facts  advanced  above,  several  writers  pa^e  24 
and  cartographers  at  different  times  have  put  forth  very  erroneous  {continued) 
suggestions  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  Munk's  wintering-place. 
These  mistakes  are  mostly  traceable — as,  indeed,  has  often 
been  stated  before — to  Isaac  de  la  Peyrere,  whose  abstract  of 
Munk's  narrative  (in  his  book  Relation  du  Groenland)  we  have 
had  occasion  to  mention  more  than  once.  Somehow  La  Peyrere 
failed  to  realise  that  Munk,  after  reaching  the  latitude  of  630  20', 
continued  his  voyage  for  a  considerable  distance  towards  the 
south-west ;  and  he  understood  the  matter  as  if  Munk  had 
wintered  in  that  latitude.  It  is  true  that  La  Peyrere's 
words  do  not  necessarily  bear  this  interpretation,  but  that  he 
really  meant  to  say  so  is  evident  from  his  map,  on  which 
Churchill  Harbour,  with  Munk's  wintering-place,  is  shown  in 
lat.  63°  20'.  We  shall  explain  this  more  fully  in  discussing 
Munk's  map.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that  La  Peyrere's  error 
continued  to  be  repeated  without  criticism  in  books  and  on  maps, 
until  it  was  discovered  that  Churchill  Harbour  is  really  situated 
in  about  lat.  59°.  Afterwards  another  mistake  arose.  Some 
authors,  who  either  did  not  know,  or  did  not  give  due  weight  to 
the  strong  evidence  connecting  Munk's  winter  quarters  with 
Churchill  Harbour,  allowed  themselves  to  be  misled  by  La 
Peyrere's  indication  of  the  latitude,  separated  these  two  localities, 
and  placed  Munk's  winter-quarters  high  up  on  the  wrestern 
coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  far  from  Churchill  River.  It  is  thus 
shown  on  a  few  maps  of  the  18th  century,  but  the  earliest 
writer  who  has  adopted  this  view  is,  as  far  as  we  are  aware, 
Sir  John  Barrow,1  who  fixes  the  place  at  Chesterfield  Inlet ;  and 
his  example  was  followed  by  several  writers  and  map-makers. 
On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Ravn,2  though  fully  aware  of  La 
Peyrere's  mistake,  yet  falls  into  error  from  not  giving  due  weight 
to  the  evidence  afforded  by  Munk's  description  of  the  locality 
and  the  subsequent  discovery  of  relics  of  the  expedition  at 
Churchill ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  is  inclined  to  believe  that 

1  Sir    John    Barrow,    Ch?-o?io  logical    History    of  Arctic    Voyages 
(London,  1818),  p.  231. 

2  Udsigt  over  de  Reiser,  etc.  (Dansk  Maanedskrift,  i860,  p.  91). 


108  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Pa^e  of  ^e  ^evern  River  was  Munk's  wintering-place.  As  these  mistakes 
Text.  have  now  only  a  literary  interest,  we  need  not  here  enter  into 
Page  24  further  consideration  of  them ;  but  it  must  be  pointed  out 
[continued)  that  La  Peyrere  could  hardly  have  made  his  unfortunate 
mistake  if  Munk  had  not,  strangely  enough,  omitted  to  state 
in  his  text  the  latitude  of  his  "winter-harbour",  as  he  calls  it. 
Mr.  Lauridsen,1  indeed,  is  of  opinion  that  Munk  most  likely 
did  so  purposely,  by  order  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  in  order 
to  conceal  the  situation  of  the  harbour,  where  the  larger  ship 
had  been  left  behind,  lest  anyone  should  go  in  search  of  it  and 
carry  her  away.  But  this  theory  does  not  appear  to  have  any 
sound  foundation,  seeing  that  the  suppression  of  the  figure  indi- 
cating the  latitude  would  have  been  quite  ineffectual  to  conceal 
the  whereabouts  of  the  vessel,  as  long  as  the  other  very  ample 
information  concerning  the  harbour  in  which  she  lay  was  not 
withheld.  Following  Munk's  sailing  direction  from  Mansfield 
Island,  no  navigator  could  fail  to  strike  the  south-western  coast 
of  the  Bay  within  a  moderate  distance,  north  or  south,  of  the 
harbour;  and,  though  three  or  four  rivers  enter  the  Bay  within 
the  extreme  points  at  which  he  might  arrive,  the  outer  approach 
of  Port  Churchill  is  so  characteristic,  and  the  description  of  it 
given  by  Munk  (for  the  professed  purpose  of  guiding  future 
navigators  to  the  port  where  he  says  that  Enhiorningen  was  left) 
is  so  clear  and  accurate,  that  no  one  willing  to  devote  a  few  days 
to  the  search  could  fail  to  find  it.  No  one  who  wished  to  find 
the  vessel,  and  had  access  to  Munk's  book,  would  be  kept  back  for 
want  of  the  figure  of  the  latitude  ;  and  that  so  much  the  less,  as 
the  map,  on  which  the  relative  position  of  the  various  localities 
is  represented,  of  course  indirectly  gives  the  information  which  is 
not  expressly  conveyed  in  the  text.  We  cannot,  therefore,  consider 
it  probable  that  King  Christian  IV,  who  was  himself  a  practical 
sailor,  ordered  Munk  to  suppress  the  latitude  of  the  port  for  the 
purpose  of  concealment.  To  this  we  may  add  that,  in  1624, 
when  Munk's  book  was  published,  scarcely  anyone  can  have 
expected  that  the  ship  would  still  be  in  such  a  condition  as  to  be 
worth  fetching  home.  For  these  reasons,  we  believe  that  the 
absence  from  the  text  of  any  indication  of  the  latitude  of  Port 
Churchill  is  purely  accidental. 

1  See  his  Edition  of  Munk's  Navigation  pp.  xxvi-xxvii. 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  109 

As    far    as    is    known,    Munk  was    the    first    European    who  Ref-  t0 

Pa^e  of 

visited  Port  ChurchilL  Sir  Thomas  Button  must  have  sailed  by  Text. 
it  in  16 1 2  on  his  voyage  from  Hope's  Check  to  Port  Nelson,  and  page  24 
again,  in  16 13,  on  returning  to  the  former  place  ;  but,  as  we  have  [continued) 
no  detailed  record  of  the  former  of  these  voyages,  and  none  at  all  of 
the  second,  it  is  not  known  whether  he  explored  the  locality,  or 
even  noticed  its  existence.  The  coast  is  low  ;  and,  as  the  river 
makes  a  sharp  bend  just  before  discharging  its  waters  into  the  sea 
through  a  mouth  not  more  than  1, 100  yards  wide,  it  would  not  appear 
as  a  river  to  anyone  sailing  by,  but  only  as  the  entrance  of  a  creek, 
which  would  not  invite  the  attention  of  Button,  who  was  in  search 
of  a  passage  into  the  Pacific.  Under  these  circumstances,  we  are 
perfectly  justified  in  claiming  for  Munk  the  discovery  of  Port 
Churchill;  and,  if  priority  of  publication  were  to  be  strictly 
adhered  to  with  respect  to  geographical  names,  it  ought  un- 
doubtedly to  bear  the  name  given  to  it  by  Munk,  or  else  that  of 
Port  Munk. 

As  soon  as  the  adjacent  land  became  frequented  by  Europeans, 
some  fifty  or  sixty  years  after  Munk,  the  value  of  Port  Churchill 
as  a  commercial  harbour  was  recognised.  Maps  of,  as  well  as 
detailed  information  concerning,  it  are,  therefore,  now  available, 
by  means  of  which  we  may  easily  follow  Munk's  movements. 
There  is  a  large  and  good  map  in  J.  Robson's  book  on 
Hudson's  Bay.1  The  most  modern  (which  is,  however,  in  a 
great  measure  founded  on  Robson's)  is  the  one  which  accom- 
panies Mr.  C.  N.  Bell's  paper,  Our  Northern  Waters  (Winni- 
peg, 1884),  and  of  which  a  reproduction  is  annexed.  From  these 
and  other  sources  we  extract  the  following  details  : — Churchill 
Harbour  lies  immediately  within  the  mouth  of  the  Churchill 
River.  This  is  of  about  the  same  size  as  the  Rhine,  and  has  a 
very  rapid  course  down  to  a  point  about  seven  and  a  half  miles 
from  the  sea,  where  its  bed  suddenly  expands,  forming  at  high- 
water  a  lagoon  about  five  miles  long  and  four  miles  broad  at  the 
widest ;  whilst,  at  low-water,  the  river  flows  between  stony  flats  on 
either  side.  At  the  lower  end  of  this  lagoon,  the  river  again 
contracts ;  and,  at  the  outlet,  it  is  confined  between  two  rocky 
ledges  rising   to  a  height  of  about   20  feet  above  the  sea-level. 

1  J.  Robson,  An  Account  of  Six  Years'  Residence  i?i  the  Hudson's 
Bay  (London,  1752). 


110  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

That  on  the  eastern  side  turns  rather  inwards,  towards  the  north- 


H   IT   D   S    0   N    S        BAY 


west ;  whilst  the  western  ledge  projects  nearly  a  mile  further  into 
the  sea,  and  at  the  same  time  bends  towards  the  north-east,  thus 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNKS   NARRATIVE.  Ill 

forcing  the  river  (which,  down   to  this  point,  flows  almost  due  Ref-  t0 

.  Page  °f 

north)  to  take  a  decided  turn  to  the  north-east  in  entering  the  Text. 
sea.  The  harbour  is  just  within  the  eastern  headland  ;  and,  as  page  24 
the  western  headland,  by  its  shape  and  extent,  protects  the  harbour  {continued) 
from  westerly  and  northerly  gales,  it  is  particularly  safe.  In  this 
description,  we  easily  recognise  the  long  promontory  on  which 
Munk  erected  his  beacons,  and  which  would  have  to  be  left  to 
starboard  by  anyone  desiring  to  enter  the  harbour  steering 
S.W.  The  width  of  the  opening  is  only  two-thirds  of  a  mile, 
or  less,  but  the  depth  is  considerable — from  seven  to  eight 
fathoms,  as  Munk  says.  The  sunken  rock  in  the  entrance 
mentioned  by  Munk  is  not  marked  on  the  map,  but  is  well 
known  to  exist,  and  is  referred  to  by  some  writers  as  St.  Mary's, 
by  others  as  Cap  Merry's,  Rock ;  but  it  is,  as  Munk  says,  easy 
to  avoid.  A  comparison  between  the  annexed  map  of  Port 
Churchill  and  the  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Port  given  on  Munk's 
woodcut  (facing  page  23)  will  show  that  the  main  features  of  the 
locality,  as  well  as  the  configuration  of  the  adjoining  parts  of  the 
coast,  are  unmistakeably,  if  somewhat  rudely,  reproduced  in  the 
latter. 

It  was  on  the  7th  of  September  that  Munk  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  frigate  safe  into  harbour  ;  and  his  first  care  was 
to  put  together  his  pinnace,  which  had  been  brought  out  in 
pieces — a  precaution  of  which  we  read  in  many  accounts  of 
Arctic  voyages.  Perhaps  we  may  conclude  from  it  that  he 
intended,  in  any  case,  to  remain  some  time  in  the  place.  In  the 
night,  fires  were  lit  on  the  shore  to  warn  the  party  in  the  sloop 
of  Munk's  whereabouts,  lest  they  should  pass  the  place  by  night 
and  miss  him.  Lamprenen  came  in  on  the  9th  from  the  north. 
Munk's  next  thought  was  for  the  health  of  his  crews.  He  states 
that  many  of  his  men  had  fallen  ill  through  overwork,  caused  by 
the  unfavourable  weather ;  but  that  the  scurvy  had  already 
made  its  appearance  amongst  them,  seems  to  be  indicated  by 
Munk's  statement  that  they  recovered  as  soon  as  they  were,  by  his 
orders,  brought  on  shore  and  had  an  opportunity  of  eating  fresh 
fruit.  It  may  be  noted  in  passing  that,  although  the  kinds  of 
fruit  which  he  mentions  are  common  in  Denmark  as  well  as  in 
Norway,  and  are  called  by  the  same  names,  he  speaks  of  their  names 
as  Norwegian,  no  doubt  because  his  berry-gathering  years  had 
been  spent  in  Norway.     Another  no  doubt  welcome  change  from 


112  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Ref.  to   the  salt  diet  of  the  ship  was  afforded  by  the  White  Whale,  or 

Page  of  .  J 

Text.  Beluga,  which  occurs  in  such  quantities  in  Hudson's  Bay,  and 
pa  24  in  the  estuaries  of  the  rivers  which  discharge  into  it,  as  to  be 
continued)  the  subject  of  a  valuable  fishery.1  The  remains  of  one  of  these 
animals  attracted  a  Polar  Bear,  which  Munk  shot ;  and,  at  the 
request  of  the  crew,  it  was  utilised  for  the  commissariat.  Probably 
none  of  them  had  eaten  Polar  Bear  before,  although  some  parts 
of  the  Brown  Bear  are  eaten  in  the  North  of  Europe.  By  the 
Esquimaux  (at  least  in  Greenland),  the  Polar  Bear  is  considered 
a  great  delicacy. 
Page  25  Munk  does  not  say  whether,  having  reached  the  harbour  to 
which  they  came  on  the  7th  of  September,  they  considered  them- 
selves to  have  arrived  at  "-the  place  for  which  they  searched",  and 
for  which  they  had  looked  in  vain  in  Ungava  Bay.  Most  likely 
his  intention  was  merely  to  give  the  crew  some  rest  and  refresh- 
ment, to  explore  the  neighbourhood,  and  after  a  while  to  proceed 
further,  as  they  would  naturally  expect  to  have  open  sea  for  some 
time  longer.  But  there  happened  to  them  what  had  happened  to 
Button,  who,  fully  three  weeks  earlier  in  the  year,  had  entered 
Nelson  River  to  repair,  and  had  there  been  overtaken  by  the 
winter.  The  weather  deteriorated  so  rapidly  that  the  question 
of  going  into  winter  quarters  had  to  be  entertained  within  a  week 
of  Munk's  arrival  at  Port  Churchill.  With  a  view  to  this,  two 
boats  were  sent  out — one  towards  the  north,  the  other  to  the  south 
— in  order  to  ascertain  whether  better  quarters  were  to  be  found 
within  a  distance  of  30  or  40  English  miles.  It  may  be  noticed 
in  passing  that  Munk  says  that  the  boats  were  sent  respectively 
to  the  West  and  to  the  East,  which  of  course  is  founded  on  the 
circumstance  that  the  portion  of  the  coast  on  which  Churchill 
River  enters  the  sea,  really  does  trend  West  and  East,  though  only 
for  a  short  distance.  The  two  Danish  mates,  Brock  and  Petersen, 
who  were  in  command  of  the  boats,  returned  with  the  report  that 
they  had  been  unable  to  find  any  decent  harbour  where  they  had 
been  ;  and  no  wonder,  because  Munk  had  had  the  good  fortune  to 


1  The  Beluga  (Delphi?taptems  leucas)  enters  regularly  with  the 
tide,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  derives  a  good  income  from  the 
fishery.  In  former  times,  they  were  shot  with  rifles,  but  are  now  taken 
in  trap-nets.  The  American  whalers  also  take  great  numbers  in  the 
Bay. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  I  1 3 

strike — apparently  by  accident — by  far  the  best  harbour  on  the  Ref-  to 
coast.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Munk  did  not  wait  for  the  return  of  Text. 
Brock,  who  was  ten  days  away,  but  decided  already  on  the  18th  of  page  2r 
September  to  remain  where  he  was.  Then  followed  a  busy  time  in  [continued) 
placing  the  vessels  in  safety  and  arranging  winter  quarters.  Munk 
and  his  officers  resolved  for  this  purpose  to  take  the  ship  behind 
some  promontory,  where  she  might  have  some  protection  against 
the  drifting  ice.  The  ships  were  at  that  time  probably  lying 
in  what  is  now  called  Churchill  Harbour  proper — that  is,  in  the 
deep  pool  of  the  river  just  inside  Cap  Merry,  where  the 
wharf  and  warehouses  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  now 
are  situated.1  Though  this  place  might  be  safe  enough  in 
other  respects,  yet  the  vessels  were  there  too  much  exposed  to 
the  destructive  action  of  the  drift-ice,  which  was  already  then 
being  carried  up  and  down  with  great  force  by  the  strong  current 
of  the  river  and  the  tides,  which  run  with  an  estimated  velocity, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  of  six  knots  at  half  tide.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  19th,  they  sailed  up  the  river  in  search  of  a  more 
suitable  locality  ;  but,  after  proceeding  a  certain  distance,  they 
found  that  they  could  ascend  no  further.  Munk  does  not 
say  how  far  they  got;  but,  as  he  says  elsewhere  that  Enhiorn- 
ingen  was  left  lying  something  like  a  Danish  mile  (i.e.,  four  and 
a  half  English  miles)  up  the  river,  this  would  probably  be  the 
distance  from  the  mouth  to  which  they  reached  by  sailing. 
On  the  next  morning,  it  was  found  that  the  ice  had  cut  into 
the  sides  of  the  vessels  to  the  depth  of  about  one  inch  and  a 
half,  proving  the  absolute  necessity  of  speedy  removal.  They 
must  have  been  lying  in  the  permanent  bed  of  the  river,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  up  the  lagoon  above  described  ;  and  the  only  way 
of  bringing  the  vessels  into  comparative  safety  was  to  float  them 
on  to  the  shore  at  flood  tide,  across  one  of  the  flats  which,  as 
already  mentioned,  intervene  between  low-water  and  high-water 
mark  on  either  side.  Munk  chose  the  western  shore,  no  doubt 
partly  because  the  flat  there  was  much  the  narrower,  partly 
because,  opposite  the  spot  where  they  must  have  been  anchored, 

1  According  to  Lieut.  A.  R.  Gordon  {Report  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Expedition  of  1886,  pp.  8-9),  this  basin  is  1 500  yards  north  and  south 
by  about  1000  yards  east  and  west,  with  a  depth  of  over  four  fathoms 
at  low  water. 

8 


114  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Rej.  to  it  offers  precisely  such  a  locality  as  he  desired  to  find,  the  coast  re- 
Text.      ceding  somewhat  towards  the  west  behind  a  slight  promontory.    To 

pacre  2-  this  place,  accordingly,  the  vessels  were  brought,  though  not  without 
[continued)  difficulty  and  danger,  as  Munk's  narrative  shows.1  The  flat  which 
had  to  be  crossed  was  not  only — as  all  authorities  describe  it — 
covered  with  large  boulders,  but  of  considerable  width.  According 
to  our  map,  the  width  is  about  one  mile,  with  which  Munk's 
estimate  of  "  nearly  900  fathoms  "  agrees  very  well.  The  place 
is  at  a  distance  from  the  river's  mouth  of  about  four  miles,  as  the 
crow  flies,  which  agrees  perfectly  with  Munk's  statement ;  and  that 
it  really  is  the  spot  where  Munk  wintered  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  one  of  his  cannon  was  afterwards  found  here,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  little  bay  in  which  it  was  found  was  called  Munk's  Cove. 
Sir  J.  Richardson,  who  mentions  this  fact  (without,  however,  giving 
his  authority),  states2  that  the  discovery  in  question  was  made 
when  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  established  their  fort  on  this 
river.  The  original  fort  of  the  company,  which  was  erected  in 
1688,  and  rebuilt  in  17 18  (or,  according  to  some,  in  1721),  was 
situated  on  the  western  shore  of  the  estuary,  in  the  place  marked 
on  the  map  "Old  Fort",  as  the  original  fort  came  to  be  called 
after  the  erection  of  Prince  of  Wales's  Fort  at  the  entrance  of 
the  harbour  in  1733. 

Page  26  In  this  place,  the  vessels  would  not  be  affected  by  the  current 
except  when  the  tide  was  full,  and  the  danger  from  drifting  ice 
would,  consequently,  be  very  much  less  than  in  the  permanent  river- 
bed; besides  which,  the  crews  would  be  able  easily  to  get  on  shore. 
The  sloop  was  hauled  on  land  with  the  assistance  of  a  high  tide, 
and  the  ship  was  moored  securely  and  protected  by  various 
means,  the  description  of  which  reminds  one  strongly  of  the 
measures  taken  by  Button,  with  the  same  object  in  view,  when  he 
wintered  on  the  Nelson  River  in  16 1 2-1 3. 3  A  part  of  the  ships' stores 

Page  27  was  brought  on  shore,  and  huts  or  small  houses  appear  to  have 
been  erected  wherein   to   keep   them    safely.     Munk   does   not 


1  We  have  indicated  on  the  map  of  Churchill  Harbour  the  course 
probably  taken  in  bringing  the  vessels  to  their  final  station.  The  line 
representing  the  outward  route  of  the  sloop  in  1620  is,  however, 
purely  conjectural. 

2  Sir  J.  Richardson,  The  Arctic  Regions  (Edinburgh,  1861),  p.  107. 

3  See  Luke  Foxe's  North-West  Foxe  (1635),  p.  118;  also  Miller 
Christy's  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  p.  187. 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  115 

mention  this  in  his  account :  but  two  such  are  seen  in  the  wood-  Ref-  t0 

Page  of 

cut,  and  remains  of  them  are  said  to  have  existed  not  much  more  Text. 
than  a  century  ago.1  Page  27 

In  the  next  place,  Munk  adopted  various  measures  for  the  {continued) 
comfort  of  the  crew,  with  regard  to  which  two  points  may  be 
noticed.  He  distributed  winter  clothing,  but  no  mention  is 
made  of  fur  garments,  which  in  that  climate  are  indispensable. 
That  Munk  afterwards  recognised  the  lack  of  such  garments  as  a 
grave  defect  in  his  outfit,  is  evident  from  his  having  (as  already 
mentioned)  placed  fur-lined  clothing  in  the  forefront  of  his 
requirements  for  the  proposed  second  voyage.  The  other  point 
is  that  he  was  careful  to  make  arrangements  whereby  the  crew 
obtained  the  fullest  possible  amount  of  space  to  move  about 
on  board — an  important  matter  as  regards  their  health.  No 
doubt,  with  the  same  view  of  enabling  them  to  be  out  of  the 
cabin  as  much  as  possible,  he  had  three  large  fireplaces  arranged 
on  deck.  One  of  these  was  on  the  so-called  Styrepligt,  a  portion 
of  the  deck  astern,  principally  intended  for  the  working  of  the 
helm.  It  corresponds,  we  believe,  to  what  was  anciently  called 
the  "steerage"  in  English  ships,  which  term  we  have  therefore 
used  in  our  translation,  though  it  is  now  obsolete  except  in  the 
combination  "steerage  passenger."  At  the  same  time,  the  men 
were  employed  a  good  deal  on  shore,  in  providing  fuel  and  food 
and  in  other  occupations. 

Munk  at  once  set  to  work  to  explore  the  country,  particularly  Page  28 
in  order  to  establish  intercourse  with  the  natives  ;  but  in  this  he 
did  not  succeed,  through  he  found  traces  of  their  presence  every- 
where, from  which  he  concluded  that  they  came  there  only  in 
the  summer  time.  He  tried  first,  on  the  7th  of  October,  to 
ascend  the  river — to  which  he  did  not  give  any  name — in  a 
boat  j  but  he  found  it  unnavigable  beyond  a  few  English  miles 
from  where  he  was  lying.  This  agrees  with  the  statements  of 
later  authors,  according  to  whom  the  lowest  rapids  are  just  above 
the  head  of  the  tide,  a  short  distance  above  the  upper  end  of  the 
lagoon  above  referred  to,  and  about  eight  miles  from  the  sea.2 
The  Dieffuels  Hug  ("  Devil's  Promontory")  which  Munk  mentions 
in  his  account  of  this  expedition,  may  very  likely  be  Musketo 


1  See  post,  p.  135. 

2  Chas.  N.  Bell,  Our  Northern  Waters,  p.  45. 

82 


Il6  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-I620. 

Rej.  to   Point,  situated  where  the  ridge  bordering  the  valley  of  the  river 
Text.      on  the  west    side   terminates,    and  where    the   river  expands  as 


Pa^e  28  before  described. 
[continued)       jror  some   time,  Munk  and  his  men  were  much  occupied  in 

Page  29  securing  the  ship  against  the  drifting  ice,  which  more  than  once 
shifted  her  position,  and  carried  away  breakwaters,  etc. ;  but,  when 
the  ice  lay    firm  along  the  shore   (as    it  did  after  the  22nd  of 

Page  30  October),  no  further  trouble  arose  from  this  source,  and  the  men 
were  free  to  employ  themselves  otherwise.  Munk  states  that, 
after  that  time,  and  as  long  as  the  weather  permitted,  the  men 
were  much  on  shore,  which  he  evidently  encouraged  for  their 
healths'  sake.  His  statement  that  they  were  mostly  employed  in 
the  forest,  cutting  wood  for  fuel  or  in  pursuit  of  game — both  of 
which  occupations  are  illustrated  in  the  woodcut  facing  p.  23 — 
would  appear  incredible  to  a  modern  traveller  in  that  district, 
which  is  now  almost  treeless ;  but  it  appears  from  all  accounts 
that,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  even  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth,  the  country  was  covered  with  forest,  which  in  course  of 
time  has  been  destroyed.  So  notorious  was  the  fact,  thai  one 
writer1  at  the  last-mentioned  period  appeals  to  it  as  an  argument 
against  La  Peyrere's  erroneous  statement  that  Munk  wintered  in 
lat.  630  20',  and  in  favour  of  the  view  that  he  wintered  at  Port 
Churchill,  because  in  that  latitude  no  forest  would  have  been 
found,  whilst  it  existed  at  Port  Churchill.  Pines  no  doubt 
constituted  the  main  growth ;  but  poplars,  willows,  and  juniper 
are  also  mentioned  as  growing  in  the  forest.2  Game  was  killed 
partly  for  food  and  partly  for  fur — no  doubt  intended  for  sale  at 
home.  There  were  many  Norwegians  amongst  the  crew;  and, 
amongst  the  methods  employed,  Munk  mentions  especially  one 

1  An  Accou?it  of  a  Voyage  to  Hudson1  s  Bay,  .  .  .  by  the  Clerk  of 
"  The  California''  (London,  1748),  p.  105. 

2  See  E.  Umfreville,  The  Present  State  of  Hudson's  Bay  (London, 
1790),  p.  24.  He  states  that  the  forest  had  then  been  cleared  for 
some  miles  from  the  fort,  and  that  the  remaining  trees  were  but  small. 
Dr.  Robert  Bell's  "Map  showing  the  Northern  Limits  of  Forest  Trees 
in  Canada"  {Report  of  Canadian  Geological  Survey,  1881)  shows  that 
the  White  Spruce  {Abies  alba),  the  Black  Spruce  {Abies  nigra),  the 
American  Larch  {Larix  americana),  and  the  Balsam  Poplar  {Populus 
balsamifera),  all  have  their  northernmost  limit  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  Port  Churchill. 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  117 

used  in  Norway,  and  called  at  ligge  for  Glug,  which  means  lying  Ref-  t0 
in  ambush  behind  a  window  or  similar  opening  (called  Glug  both  Text. 
in  Denmark  and  in  Norway)  m  order  to  shoot  animals  attracted  pa„e  30~ 
by  a  bait,  or  to  mind  traps,  for  which  purpose   small  huts  are  [continued) 
erected    in   suitable   places.     The   food-game    consisted    mostly 
of  ptarmigan   and   hares.     The    former,  belonging  to  the  same 
species    as    the    European    Common    Ptarmigan,   are    still    very 
abundant    in    the    country,    where    great    numbers    are   killed 
annually  by  the  servants  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.     The 
early  English  explorers  (Hudson,  Button,  Fox,  James)  spoke  of 
these  birds  as  White  Partridges  ;   but  Munk  and   his  Norwegian 
sailors  of  course  easily  recognised  the  Rype,  familiar  to  them  at 
home,  and  called  it  by  its  right  name. 

As  the  winter  increased  in  severity,  much  snow  fell,  often  Pp.  31-32 
rendering  locomotion  across  country  impossible.  A  second 
attempt  of  Munk's  to  penetrate  into  the  interior  was  frustrated  by 
a  violent  snow-storm.  Unfortunately  they  had  no  snow-shoes,  nor 
did  any  of  them  know  the  use  of  them,  which  is  quite  an  art 
and  requires  special  training.  This  was  one  of  the  defects  in 
their  outfit  which  Munk  was  desirous  of  avoiding  when  a  second 
expedition  was  thought  of  in  162 1. 

In  many  places,  Munk  expresses  his  astonishment  at  the  Page  33 
extraordinary  severity  of  the  frost ;  and  one  day — the  3rd  of 
December — he  examined  the  ice  on  the  estuary  and  found  that, 
in  the  permanent  bed  of  the  river,  it  had  attained  a  thickness  of 
about  3  feet  7  inches  English  measure,  which  thickness  it 
retained  until  long  after  Christmas.  Where  the  water  was 
still,  he  found  the  ice  much  thicker;  but  there  is  nothing  in 
his  narrative  corresponding  to  the  statement  of  La  Peyrere1  that 
they  found  the  ice  to  be  300  to  360  feet  thick.  It  does  not,  how- 
ever, appear  that  the  winter  of  1619-20  was  unusually  early  or 
severe.  Munk  says  that,  on  October  22nd,  the  ice  became  firm 
near  the  shore  ;  and,  on  the  30th,  it  covered  the  whole  estuary, 
which — considering  that  his  dates  are  all  Old  Style — corresponds 
to  the  experience  of  subsequent  observers  to  the  effect  that  Port 
Churchill  does  not  freeze  up  till  November.2     On  the  21st  of 

1  Relation  du  Groenland,  p.  256.     The  statement  was  reproduced 
by  Forster,  Geschichte,  etc.,  p.  538  (Engl,  trans.,  p.  470). 

2  C.  N.  Bell,  Our  Northern  Waters ;  p.  46. 


Il8  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   November,  the  sea  outside  was  still  open  ;  but  on  February  6th 
Text.      they  could  see  no  open  water,  probably  because  the  sea  was 


Page  33  obscured  by  fog,  as  the  ice-belt  along  the  shore  is  never  very 

(  ontinued)  broad.1 

In  connection  with  this  matter,  Munk  sets  forth  his  view  on 
the  formation  of  icebergs,  which,  as  readers  conversant  with  the 
subject  will  have  observed,  contains  all  the  germs  of  the  true 
explanation,  and  prove  him  to  have  been  an  intelligent  observer, 
anticipating  (as  he  does)  the  results  of  much  more  recent  scientific 
investigation.  Had  Munk  said  that  the  snow,  sliding  down  the 
mountain  sides,  solidified  into  ice  before  reaching  the  water, 
instead  of  after,  there  would  have  been  little  or  no  fault  to  find 
with  his  description.2  It  may  be  noted  in  passing  that,  although 
Munk  speaks  of  icebergs  in  connection  with  his  observations  on 
the  ice  at  Port  Churchill,  he  certainly  did  not  observe  any  there, 
as  they  do  not  occur  in  that  part  of  Hudson's  Bay.  His 
experience  of  them  had  been  gained  in  Davis'  and  Hudson's 
Straits,  where  he  had  met  many  of  them. 

Other  phenomena  also  attracted  his  attention.  Thus  he 
notices  that,  on  the  23rd  of  November,  there  was  an  appearance 
in  the  sky  as  if  there  had  been  three  suns  on  the  heaven — a 
phenomenon  of  a  kind  which  is  not  unfrequent  in  those  lands  of 
fog  and  mist.  In  the  MS.,  there  is  a  very  rough  indication  of 
how  these  three  "suns"  partially  covered  one  another,  but  no 
attempt  at  a  drawing ;  nor  is  there  any  illustration  in  the  printed 
book.  Something  similar  he  also  noted  under  the  date  of 
January  20,  1620. 
Page  34  A  phenomenon  of  the  same  class  appears  to  have  been 
observed  on  the  10th  of  December  with  regard  to  the  moon, 
simultaneously  with  the  occurrence  of  an  eclipse.  Munk, 
however,  seems  to  have  mixed  up  the  two  phenomena,  and  his 
description  is  far  from  satisfactory.  He  expresses  himself  as 
being  well  aware  that  the  hours  of  the  commencement  and  the 
end  of  the  eclipse  might  be  made  use  of  for  the  determination  of 


1  C.  N.  Bell,  Our  Northern  Waters,  pp.  20  and  25. 

2  Capt.  Luke  Fox,  when  passing  through  Hudson's  Strait  ten  years 
later,  formed  a  somewhat  similar  theory  of  the  formation  of  icebergs, 
which,  though  less  correct  than  the  above,  is  nevertheless  interesting 
(See  Christy,  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  pp.  288  and  293). 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNKS    NARRATIVE.  119 

Ref.    1 


the  longitude  of  the  locality  ;  but  his  statements  on  these  points  Ref-  to 


are    manifestly  erroneous.      The    conditions    under    which    he  Text. 


observed  may  have  been  unfavourable  ;  but  it  is  very  probable  pa„e  „4 
that  it  was  only  after  his  return  that  he  learned  how  the  eclipse  {continued 
could  be  used  for  the  purpose  indicated.  He  had  himself  no 
means  of  taking  longitudes  on  the  voyage,  and  probably  did  not  at 
all  know  how  to  do  it.  In  this  place,  too,  there  is  some  difference 
between  the  MS.  and  the  printed  text,  which  should  be  noted.  In 
the  former,  the  above-mentioned  phenomenon  is  described  in  the 
same  terms  as  in  the  printed  text ;  but,  after  the  words  in  which  it 
is  stated  that  the  eclipse  ended  at  ten  o'clock,  the  MS.  has  these 
words  :  "  See  the  figure  here  following";  and  after  the  figure  there 
is  a  reference  to  the  Ephemerides,  in  terms  similar  to  those  of  the 
printed  text,  the  paragraph  concluding  with  these  lines:  "inas- 
much as  I  am  no  Latin  scholar,  I  cannot  so  well  choose  the  ex- 
pressions as  I  ought ;  but  I  hope  that  the  well-disposed  reader 
who  has  understanding  will  accept  all  in  the  best  meaning." 
The  figure  in  question  (which  occupies  nearly  a  full  page)  consists 
of  two  concentric  circles  divided  into  quarters  by  a  horizontal 
and  a  vertical  diameter  forming  a  cross,  another  line  being  drawn 
across  them  above  the  former.  It  is  doubtless  an  imperfect  copy 
of  the  drawing  in  Origanus'  Ephemerides  above  quoted,  represent- 
ing this  very  eclipse.1  Of  course,  the  straight  lines  in  question 
have  their  significance  in  connection  with  the  manner  in  which 
the  effect  of  eclipses  are  shown  in  that  work,  and  have  nothing  to 
do  with  any  cross  appearing  in  the  moon,  which  Munk  seems  to 
have  thought  to  be  part  and  parcel  of  an  eclipse.  The  truth 
probably  is  that,  at  the  time  of  the  eclipse,  the  weather  was  misty, 
producing  something  in  the  nature  of  a  halo,  and  that  Munk,  not 
knowing  exactly  what  to  pay  attention  to,  took  some  random 
notes,  which  he  himself  afterwards  misunderstood,  as  he  did 
Origanus'  figure.  Not  knowing  much  Latin,  or  having  the  assist- 
ance of  an  astronomer  or  competent  mathematician,  he  found 
himself  incapable  of  working  out  the  problem,  so  he  left  it  to  the 
kind  reader,  pleading  in  excuse  that  he  was  no  scholar. 

As  it  is  quite  certain  from  other  data  that  Munk  wintered  in 
the  estuary  of  the  Churchill  River,  and  as  the  longitude  of  that 


1  Ephemerides  novce  1599,  fol.  Ccc.   3$,  or  Annorum  priorum  jo 
.  .  .  Ephemerides  ....  1609,  fol.  AAAA  1. 


120  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

ff-^  tof  P^ce  has  long  since  been  determined,  the  question  whether  the 
Text.      longitude  can    be   calculated   from    Munk's    statements   on  the 


Page  34  eclipse  has  now  no  practical  interest.  But  it  was  otherwise  in 
[continued)  Munk's  time,  when  the  West  Coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  had  only 
just  been  discovered,  and  no  better  data  existed  for  deter- 
mining its  longitude.  It  was,  therefore,  natural  for  Isaac  de  La 
Peyrere  to  attempt,  in  his  Relation  du  Groenhmd,  to  utilise 
Munk's  data  for  this  purpose  ;  but  (as  we  shall  see  when  we 
come  to  discuss  Munk's  map)  he  did  so  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  so 
that  his  result  would  have  been  valueless  even  if  it  had  happened 
to  be  correct,  which  it  was  not.  M.  Ravn1  has,  as  a  matter  of 
curiosity,  attempted  the  calculation  on  the  basis  of  Munk's 
statements,  with  the  result  of  finding  much  too  westerly  longitudes, 
proving  that  Munk  incorrectly  observed  or  wrongly  recorded  the 
elements  of  the  eclipse. 

Thus  the  long  Arctic  winter  commenced  without  any  much 
more  serious  mishap  than  that  they  had  (as  Munk  expresses 
himself)  to  content  themselves  with  ptarmigan,  instead  of  goose, 
on  the  feast  of  St.  Martin.  On  that  day,  roast  goose  is  an 
obligatory  item  of  the  bill  of  fare  in  Denmark,  apparently  for  no 
other  reason  than  that  the  geese  about  that  time  are  in  good 
condition,  having  fattened  on  the  corn  dropped  amongst  the 
stubble — "  stubble-geese",  as  Chaucer  has  it,  though  in  England 
these  are  due  at  Michaelmas.  Things  seem  to  have  gone  on 
Page  35  fairly  well  until  Christmas,  which,  according  to  Munk's  account, 
was  celebrated  not  only  with  all  due  solemnity  but  also  with  all  due 
jollity,  and  perhaps  a  little  too  much  of  the  latter,  the  feasting 
commencing  (as  the  Danish  custom  is)  .on  Christmas  Eve. 
From  Munk's  statement  that  there  was  a  sermon  and  "  Mass", 
it  must  not  be  concluded  that  they  were  Roman  Catholics, 
the  word  Messe  in  Danish  (in  post-Reformation  times)  simply 
meaning  Divine  Service  in  the  morning.  The  usual  morning 
service  on  Sundays  and  festivals  is  called  Hoimesse  (High  Mass), 
the  early  service  F?-omesse  (Early  Mass),  whether  there  be 
communion  or  not.  In  this  case,  no  doubt,  there  was;  and 
with  that  there  would  naturally  be  an  offertory  {Juleoffer)  for  the 
Freest,   as    the   clergy    are  called    in    Denmark.     The    duties   of 


1   Udsigt,  etc.,  in  Dansk  Maa7iedskrift,  i860,  p.  92. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  121 

religion   observed,  they  had  their  Christmas  dinner  and  amuse-  £ff-  *° 

°  '  J  Page  of 

ments,  and  thus  they  "spent  the  Holy  Days  with  the  merriment  Text. 


that  was  got  up,';  as  Munk  says  in  the  printed  book,  expressing  Pp.  36-39 
himself  therein  rather  more  cheerfully  than  in  the  MS.,  where  the 
sentence  reads,  "  and  then  we  passed  the  Holy  Days,  according 
to  our  poor  ability  at  the  time." 

Howbeit,  Anno  Domini  1620  had  barely  commenced  when 
sickness  appeared  among  the  crew  to  an  alarming  extent. 
Some  of  the  men  appear  to  have  been  ailing  a  long  time,  and 
a  couple  of  deaths  are  recorded  in  16 19;  but,  with  the  New 
Year,  the  sick  list  soon  began  to  swell.  The  same  is  recorded  of 
Button's  crew,  and  the  reason  was  probably  the  same  in  both 
cases — viz.,  that  the  continuance  of  the  extremely  severe  cold 
prevented  the  men  from  taking  sufficient  outdoor  exercise, 
whilst  the  ice  and  the  deep  snow  diminished  the  supply  of  fresh 
meat  and  of  vegetable  food.  That  the  disease  was  scurvy  is 
evident  from  Munk's  description  of  the  symptoms,  and  he 
employs  the  name,  but  seems  to  apply  it  more  particularly  to  the 
affection  of  the  gums,  speaking  of  the  affection  of  the  stomach  as 
a  kind  of  dysentery.  Probably  he  had  not  before  witnessed  or 
heard  of  the  disease  in  so  acute  a  form,  for  he  speaks  of  it  as  a 
rare  and  extraordinary  disease.  This  is  particularly  the  case  in 
the  entry  under  May  28,  1620  (see  p.  47).  With  regard  to  this, 
however,  it  should  be  noted  that,  in  the  MS.,  the  whole  paragraph 
is  very  much  shorter,  and  only  mentions  as  remarkable  the  con- 
traction of  the  limbs.  Scurvy  was  well  known  at  the  time,  and 
the  importance  of  fresh  meat  and  vegetable  food  was  recog- 
nised. The  Cochlearia  officinalis  went  even  then  by  the  name  of 
Scurvy  Grass.  But  Munk  does  not  seem  to  have  been  aware  of 
the  disastrous  influence  of  alcohol  on  patients  or  persons 
beginning  to  ail  from  it.  The  people  of  Scandinavia  were  in 
former  times  hard  drinkers,  the  Norwegians  being  surpassed  in 
capacity  for  drink  only  by  the  Icelanders  ;  and  nothing  would 
seem  to  the  common  man  more  natural  than  to  counteract 
weakness  by  a  liberal  use  of  wine  and  spirits.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  this  circumstance  considerably  aggravated  the 
evil ;  but  the  want  of  fur  clothing,  which  confined  the  men  to 
the  close  quarters  on  board,  had  probably  as  large  a  share  in  it. 
At  any  rate,  it  would  not  be  just  to  blame  Munk  for  his 
liberality   towards   his  crew  in  the  matter  of  alcoholic  drink,  for 


122  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  he  acted  otherwise  than  in  ignorance 
Text.  of  the  bad  effects  to  be  expected. 
Pp.  36-39  That  Munk  can  have  had  but  little  leisure  and  little  inclination 
continued)  for  either  observing  or  noting  down  anything  that  happened  outside 
while  the  state  of  things  on  board  was  so  critical,  is  a  matter  of 
course,  and  only  three  remarks  on  such  events  occur  in  1620.  One 
has  reference  to  the  appearance  of  a  parhelion  on  January  24th. 
Another  concerns  the  variation  of  the  needle  at  Port  Churchill, 
but  Munk's  statements  thereupon  are  not  self-consistent.  He  says 
Page  40  that,  on  the  nth  of  March  (O.S.,  as  are  all  his  dates),  the 
Spring  Equinox,  the  sun  rose  in  E.S.E.  and  set  in  W.N.W.;  but 
he  adds  that  the  sun  set  at  seven  o'clock,  though,  says  he,  "it 
was  not  really  more  than  six  o'clock,  on  account  of  the  variation." 
These  statements  do  not  go  together.  The  points  of  the  compass 
indicated  refer,  of  course,  to  the  magnetic  north,  and  imply  a 
variation  of  two  points  ;  but,  if  the  hour  is  taken  from  the  position 
of  the  sun  by  means  of  the  compass  dial,  reckoning  it  to  be  noon 
when  the  sun  stands  over  the  south  point,  the  variation  would 
cause  an  error  of  only  three-quarters  of  an  hour  for  two  points. 
If  the  sun  really  set  in  W.N.W.  by  compass,  the  variation  was 
22J0  W.,  and  the  apparent  time  6  hours  45  minutes.  For  the 
apparent  time  to  be  seven,  the  variation  would  have  to  be  300, 
and  the  points  of  sunrise  and  sunset  would  be  nearer  S.E.  by  E. 
and  N.W.  by  W. 

The  third  remark  refers  to  the  return  of  migratory  animals  at 
the  end  of  winter.  In  the  entry  for  May  22nd  (p.  47),  he 
enumerates  the  birds  which  had  at  that  time  appeared  :  but  in 
the  MS.  he  adds  that  they  did  not  include  Auks  nor  Puffins,  nor 
were  there  any  four-footed  beasts. 

The  long  and  melancholy  tale  of  the  progress  of  the  disease,  of 
the  frequent  deaths,  and  of  the  increasing  difficulty  of  having 
the  bodies  properly  buried,  calls  for  few  remarks.  Unlike  the 
skilful  surgeon  who  managed  to  keep  Capt.  James's  sick  sailors 
in  such  condition  that  they  could  move  about  and  do  some  work 
during  his  wintering  in  1631-32,  the  surgeon  of  Enhiorningen 
Pp.  4 1 -42  could  render  no  assistance  at  all.  The  vessel  had  been  supplied 
with  a  store  of  medicaments,  such  as  herbs,  waters,  medicines, 
etc.,  but  the  surgeon  did  not  in  the  least  know  what  use  to  make 
of  them.  They  had  been  selected  by  physicians  ;  but  it  was  no 
part  of  their  duty  to  supply  information  about  the  use  of  them — 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  1 23 

indeed,  it  would  have  been  against  the  etiquette  of  their  profession  Ref-  to 
so    to    do.     Although,    therefore,   Munk's   complaint   that  there  Text. 
were  no  "  directions  for  use  "  accompanying  the  many  bottles  and  pp.  41-42 
packets  was   well   enough   founded  from    the  point  of  view    of  {continued) 
common  sense,  nothing  else  was,  under  the  circumstances,  really 
to  be  expected. 

At  first  Munk  tried  to  honour  the  dead  with  proper  burial,  but  Page  43 
it  became  more  and  more  difficult ;  and,  as  his  two  falconets — 
small  pieces  which  had  not  been  taken  into  the  hold  with  the 
heavier  cannon— had  come  to  grief  when  discharged  in  honour 
of  Hans  Brock,  he  could  not  have  given  his  lieutenant  a  proper 
salute,  even  if  his  chief  gunner  (Arkeliemester,  literally,  "  master  of 
the  powder  magazine  ")  and  his  mate  had  not  both  been  dead 
before.  At  last,  the  survivors  were  obliged  to  drag  the  bodies 
unceremoniously  to  the  grave  on  a  little  sledge  which  had  been 
used  for  the  transport  of  fuel,  until  even  this  could  not  be 
performed,  and  no  burial  at  all  could  take  place. 

In  the  MS.,  Munk  has  noted  down  with  each  entry  the  number 
of  the  dead  up  to  that  date  ;  but  these  notes  have  been  omitted 
from  the  printed  text.  Below  the  date  of  February  20th  is 
written  "  21  corpses";  below  the  25th,  "  22  corpses";  and  so  on 
until  the  4th  of  June,  below  which  date  is  written  "61  dead." 
By  the  end  of  March,  half  the  crew  were  dead,  and  most  of  the 
others  were  suffering  to  such  a  degree  that  almost  all  there  was  to 
do  had  to  be  done  by  Munk  himself.  He  had  to  be  doctor,  Pp.  44-46 
nurse,  cook,  and  chaplain  too — for  the  Good  Friday  homily 
(which  only  four  others  had  strength  enough  to  sit  up  and  listen 
to)  was  no  doubt  read  by  himself.  There  is  almost  a  touch  of  grim 
humour  in  his  entry  for  Easter  day  (when  47  men  had  already 
succumbed)  to  the  effect  that  he  bestowed  the  office  of  the  skipper, 
who  had  just  died,  on  another  man,  although  he  was  ill,  in  order 
that  he  might  be  of  some  use  to  him  as  far  as  his  strength  went. 
Munk  himself  was  then  quite  ill,  which  is  probably  the  meaning 
of  the  term  elendig  ("  miserable")  which  he  applies  to  himself.  It 
does  not  appear  that  Munk  tried  any  of  the  medicines  he  found 
in  the  surgeon's  box,  but  he  utilised  the  herbs  to  prepare  baths 
for  himself  and  the  men.  This,  he  says,  did  them  good,  very 
much  as,  according  to  Capt.  James's  description,  his  sick  men, 
by  means  of  baths  in  the  morning,  were  enabled  to  work  through 
the  day. 


124  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to        Miserable  as  the  state  of  things  must  have  been  for  a  long  time 

Page  of  00 

Text.      on  board  Enhiorningen,  the  pitch  of  horror   was  reached  when 


Page  47  Munk  himself,  last  of  all,  was  struck  down,  and  there  was  nobody 
left  either  to  nurse  the  sick  or  to  get  the  dead  bodies  out  of  the 
way.  It  appears  that  none  were  buried  in  the  ground  after  the 
1 2th  of  May,  after  which  time  the  dead  bodies  had  been  thrown 
overboard,  or  dragged  on  deck  and  left  there.  In  the  entry  for  May 
28th  and  following   days,   Munk    says    that    three    dead   bodies 

Page  48  (amongst  which,  evidently  by  mistake,  he  mentions  the  cook's 
mate)  were  lying  on  the  steerage,  and  that  only  seven  were  left 
alive,  waiting  mournfully  for  the  snow  and  ice  to  disappear,  and 
(adds  the  MS.)  for  the  green  to  begin  to  sprout  from  the  ground. 
Amongst  these  seven,  he  counts  two  men  who  had  gone  on  shore 
and  remained  there,  and  with  whom  perhaps  the  survivors  re- 
maining on  board  were  able  to  communicate  by  shouting.  On 
Whit  Sunday,  besides  Munk  and  the  twTo  men  on  shore,  only  the 
sailmaker  was  left  alive,  and  he  apparently  in  a  dying  condition. 
In  the  printed  text,  it  is  stated  that  he  died  after  Munk  had  left 
the  ship  ;  but  in  the  MS.  the  passage  to  this  effect  does  not 
occur,  and  his  name  (Martin)  is  entered,  presumably  as  dead,  just 
below  the  words  "61  dead"  under  the  date  of  June  4th. 

What  hopes  Munk  can  have  had  that  his  last  Farewell — written 
down,  it  must  be  supposed,  in  his  log-book  or  daily  note-book, 
which  is  not  nowT  in  existence — would  ever  reach  Denmark  is  diffi- 
cult to  imagine.  Of  course,  the  words  towards  the  conclusion 
about  his  family  obtaining  some  benefit  from  his  miserable  death, 
amount   to   an   appeal   for  a   pension   in   their   favour.      How, 

Page  49  by  a  last  desperate  effort,  he  succeeded  in  leaving  the  ship  (now 
not  much  better  than  a  charnel-house),  and  how  he  recovered  so 
far  as  to  be  able  to  attempt  the  return  to  Europe  in  the  sloop, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  two  men  who  recovered  with  him, 
Munk's  own  narrative  sufficiently  explains. 

Page  50  Munk  says  that,  before  leaving  the  place,  he  "  drilled  two  or 
three  holes  in  Enhiomingen,  in  order  that  the  water  which  might 
be  in  the  ship  might  remain  when  the  ebb  was  half  out,  so 
that  the  ship  should  always  remain  firm  on  the  ground,  whatever 
ice  might  come."  This  statement  does  not  seem  very  clear, 
because  if  Munk  wished  any  water  that  already  was  in  the  ship  to 
remain  there,  the  drilling  of  holes  in  her  sides  would  defeat,  not 
further,  that  object.     The  meaning  seems  to  be  that  he  wished 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  1 25 

the  hold  of  the  ship  to  be  to  some  extent  filled  with  water,  in  Ref-  *° 

Pci^c  of 

order  to  steady  her  in  the  dock  which  he  had  constructed  for  Ttxt. 
her,  and  in  which  she  had  been  lying  all  the  winter.     He  drilled  page  ^0 
the  holes  in  order  that  the  water  might  pour  in  at  full  tide,  but  [continued) 
placed  them  so  high  up  that  whatever  water  was  in  her  at  half 
tide  would  remain.     The  breakwaters,  etc.,  which  he  had  caused 
to  be  made  were  probably  still  in  good  condition,  and  he  thought 
that,  by  thus  steadying  the  ship,  she  might  remain  safe,  and  able 
to  withstand  the  attacks  of  the  ice  in  the  following  winter. 

Before  concluding  his  account  of  his  stay  at  Port  Churchill,  Page  51 
Munk  says  that  he  called  it  after  himself — Jens  Muncke's  Bay. 
This  is  rather  remarkable,  because  the  name  is  distinctly  Eng- 
lish, not  Danish.  "  Bay"  is  not  a  Danish  word,  and  has  never 
been  used  as  an  appellative,  though  Bayen  ("the  Bay")  at  one 
time  was  (and  perhaps  still  sometimes  is)  used  of  the  Bay  of 
Biscay,  as  in  English,  from  which  language  this  use  of  it 
undoubtedly  has  come.  It  looks  as  if  the  name  had  been 
suggested  by  Gordon  or  Watson,  perhaps  in  the  report  to  which 
Munk  in  one  place  seems  to  allude  (see  p.  89).  In  this  connec- 
tion, too,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  language  of  the  Navigatio 
Septentrionalis — that  of  the  MS.  to  a  greater  extent  than  that  of 
the  printed  text — abounds  in  what  a  reader  acquainted  only  with 
the  Danish  of  modern  literature  would  describe  as  Anglicisms. 
The  greater  number  of  these  peculiarities  find  their  explanation 
in  the  fact  that,  at  the  time  when  the  book  was  written,  the 
dialect  of  Jutland  was  still  predominant  in  Denmark,  which 
dialect  to  this  day  exhibits  numberless  points  of  resemblance  to 
English,  which  do  not  occur  in  the  present  language  of  Danish 
literature.  But  there  are  some  expressions  which  cannot  be 
accounted  for  in  this  way,  and  which  one  is  tempted  to  derive 
from  Munk's  intercourse  with  his  English  pilots,  such  as  fadoms 
(in  the  MS.)  for  Favne  (or  Fauffne,  as  it  was  then  spelt),  and  the 
participles  finding  and  entring  (in  the  entries  for  July  9th,  nth, 
and  12th),  which  have  never  been  in  use  in  Danish. 


The  Homeward  Voyage. 

With  regard  to  the  remaining  portion  of  Munk's  book,  it  must 
be  noticed  here  that  the  manuscript  preserved  at  the  University 
Library  of  Copenhagen   ceases   with  the  words  "whatever  ice 


126  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Ref.  to   might    come".      There    is,    however,    no    reason   whatever    to 

Page  of 

Text.      suppose    that   the    last   part   of  the   book,  which   treats    of  the 


Page  51  return  voyage,  was  not  written  by  Munk  himself.  To  a  great 
[continued)  extent,  it  has  a  meagre  appearance  and  seems  to  be  little  more 
than  a  transcript  of  Munk's  original  notes  ;  but  this  is  only  what 
naturally  might  be  expected.  Sailing,  as  Munk  did,  from  the 
Churchill  River  to  the  coast  of  Norway  without  setting  foot  on 
land,  what  could  he  have  to  record,  except  short  statements 
about  wind  and  weather  ?  Wherever  'there  is  the  least  occasion 
for  it,  he  is  as  full  and  circumstantial  as  in  any  other  part  of  his 
narrative. 

Munk  gives  no  details  of  their  leaving  the  harbour,1  nor  does 
he  indicate  either  the  direction  of  the  wind  or  the  course  steered 
after  leaving  it ;  but,  as  he  would  naturally  try  to  sail  home  as 
straight  as  he  could,  in  order  not  to  be  stopped  by  the  early 
winter,  he  may  safely  be  supposed  to  have  steered  N.E.  as 
nearly  as  he  could.  However,  the  omission  is  not  of  great  con- 
sequence, because,  already  in  the  evening  of  the  first  day  he  was 
caught  in  the  ice,  which  formed  (as  usual  in  those  waters)  a  broad 
belt  not  far  from  the  shore,  very  difficult  and  hazardous  to  pene- 
trate. Three  days  after,  in  relating  how  he  lost  his  dog — probably 
the  ship's  dog,  which  had  come  out  with  them — he  says  that 
according  to  his  guess,  they  were  40  miles  (Danish)  from  land. 
But  this  must  be  an  error  of  some  kind ;  because  that  would 
imply  that  they  were  about  one-third  across  the  Bay,  whereas 
they  were  still  battling  with  the  ice  not  far  from  the  west 
coast.  What  is  really  meant  cannot  be  even  guessed,  in  the 
absence  of  the  MS.  That  they  were  practically  at  a  standstill — 
at  any  rate  relatively  to  the  ice — may  be  inferred  from  Munk's 
further  statement  that  for  two  days  they  heard  the  dog  howl. 
Page  52  After  eight  days,  they  escaped  from  the  ice,  but  on  the  inner 
side,  so  that  they  were  still  prisoners.  That  they  had  not  advanced 
much  is  evident  from  their  falling  in  again  with  the  boat 
of  Enhiomingen,  which  Munk  in  starting  had  taken  in  tow, 
thinking  that  it  might  be  useful,  but  had  been  obliged  to  abandon 
when  caught  in  the  ice  ten  days  before.  He  does  not  say  whether 
he  again  took  possession  of  it.  If  he  did,  he  probably  lost  it 
again  in  one  of  the  severe  gales  which  he  experienced  on  the 

1  See  above,  p.  114,  note. 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  1 27 

homeward  voyage ;  for,  when  he  reached  Norway,  he  had  none.  Rff-  t0 
After  trying  in  vain  to  find  an  outlet  in  an  easterly  direction,  he  Text. 
turned  and  sailed  N.W.,  between  the  ice  and  the  land.     In  so  pa„e  52 
doing,  he  was  well  advised  ;  for  it  appears  to  be  an  ascertained  {continued) 
fact    that    the    southern   part  of    Hudson's   Bay    continues    em- 
barrassed with  ice  when  the  northern  part  is  free,  so  that  ships 
bound   for   York   Factory   are   obliged,  in   order   to    avoid    the 
ice  in    the  centre  of  the  Bay,  to  steer  for  Cape  Churchill  until 
within  60   leagues   of  land,  when  they   may  steer  direct  for  the 
Nelson  River.1 

For  some  days  after  having  abandoned  his  attempt  at 
getting  through  the  ice  east  of  Port  Churchill,  Munk's  main 
direction  was  north-west,  after  which  he  seems  to  have  sailed 
north.  His  expressions  in  the  entry  for  August  4th  are  some- 
what ambiguous.  He  says  that  he  sailed  between  the  ice  and 
the  land  vestvart  op  (literally,  "westwards  up").  As  he  cannot 
have  sailed  westwards,  it  seems  that  the  vestvart  must  apply  to 
the  land,  and  indicate  that  this  was  to  the  west  of  him ;  whilst 
"op"  must  apply  to  the  sailing  and  mean  northwards.  How 
far  he  was  obliged  to  follow  the  western  coast  northwards  be- 
fore he  could  get  out  from  between  it  and  the  ice,  he  does  not 
state ;  but  he  says  that,  at  the  last,  he  was  forced  so  far  towards 
the  land  as  to  come  into  12  fathoms.  As  soon,  however,  as  he 
was  free,  he  chose  an  E.N.E.  course,  from  which  it  may  be  Page  53 
inferred  that  he  judged  himself  to  have  reached  a  point  con- 
siderably north  of  Port  Churchill.  In  all  probability,  it  was 
near  Cape  Esquimaux,  in  lat.  6i°  10',  that  Munk  got  clear  of 
the  ice. 

The  point  on  the  northern  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  which  he  calls 
Kolde  Hug  (the  Cold  Cape)  is  not  named  on  the  map,  but  is 
doubtless  represented  by  the  point  of  land  projecting  into  the 
Novum  Mare ;  this  is  placed  in  the  same  latitude  as  Haresund, 
which  agrees  with  the  figures  given  in  the  text,  62°  30'  and 
620  20'  respectively.  It  is,  however,  quite  possible  that  the 
absence  of  the  name  of  Kolde  Hug  in  its  proper  place  may  be 
due  to  the  person  who  executed  the  map  having  by  mistake 
placed  the  name,  altered  into  Koldenes,  against  a  similar  point 
in   Hudson's    Strait,    in    about   the  same   latitude.      Kolde  Hug 

1  E.  Chappel,  Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  173. 


128  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Pave  of  can  scarce^y  be  identified  with  anything  else  than  Cary's  Swan's 

Text.      Nest,    on   the   southern   coast  of  Coats'  Island,    so   named   by 

Page  53  Button — a  circumstance  of  which  Munk,  of  course,  cannot  have 

{continued)  been   aware.       Munk's   latitude  is  about    20'  too  high ;    but,  in 

other  respects,  his  description  agrees  perfectly  with  what  is  known 

of  the  place  from  other  sources.     That  it  is  situated  on  an  island 

he  could  not  know ;  and  he  naturally  assumed  that  it  was  a  part 

of  the  mainland  to  the  north  of  the  Bay — as  which  he  represents 

it  on  his  map. 

After  leaving  Kolde  Hug,  Munk  appears  to  have  followed  the 
south  coast  of  Coats'  Island  for  some  distance,  but  gradually 
drawing  away,  steering  E.N.E.,  which  course  brought  him  to  a 
point  north  of  Mansfield  Island — by  him,  it  will  be  remembered, 
called  Digses  Eyland.  Had  he  not  been  stopped  by  ice,  he 
would  no  doubt  have  proceeded  direct  into  Hudson's  Strait. 
As  it  was,  he  was  obliged  to  beat  forwards  and  backwards  in 
front  of  impenetrable  masses  of  ice. 

At  this  point,  Munk's  statements  are  rather  puzzling  in  some 
respects.  He  says  that,  on  the  morning  of  August  13th,  he  found 
himself  off  the  north-east  extremity  of  Digses  Eyland;  and,  directly 
afterwards,  he  says  that  the  eastern  end  of  that  island  was  in  lat.  63°. 
A  glance  at  the  map  shows  that  Munk,  approaching  the  island 
from  a  place  in  about  lat.  620  20'  by  an  E.N.E.  course,  would  not 
naturally  sight  the  north-east  corner  of  it  first,  and  that  no  point  on 
the  island  could  be  properly  described  as  the  east  end  of  it ;  nor 
does  any  part  of  the  island  reach  a  higher  latitude  than  620  35'. 
The  probable  explanation  is  that  Munk,  in  the  dim  light  of  the 
morning,  perhaps  on  account  of  fog,  did  not  observe  the  island, 
which  lies  low,  until  he  was  off  the  north-east  corner  of  it.  "  East 
end  "  is  probably  a  slip  of  the  pen  for  north-east  end ;  and,  as 
regards  its  latitude,  we  may  observe  that  the  error  is  of  about  the 
same  amount  as  in  the  case  of  Kolde  Hug,  and  has  probably  the 
same  cause.  It  is  evident  that  Munk  can  have  had  but  little 
chance  of  obtaining  a  tolerably  accurate  observation  from  the 
sloop's  deck.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  right  to  note  that,  on  his 
map,  the  northern  extremity  of  Mansfield  Island  is  placed  in  about 
the  same  latitude  as  Kolde  Hug,  which  he  puts  in  620  30' — very 
nearly  the  right  figure  for  Mansfield  Island. 

Munk  says  that  for  a  "  night  and  a  day  "  (which  would  have 
been  more  correctly  expressed  "a  day  and  a  night")  he  had  to 


COMMENTARY  ON    MUNK'S    NARRATIVE.  1 29 

beat  about,  being  unable  to  get  through  the  ice.     He  does  not  #efi 
say  in  what  direction  he  tried  to  penetrate  it;  but  the  circum-  Text. 


stance  that  he  here  speaks  of  the  appearance  of  the  southern  part  Page  53 
of  Mansfield  Island  seems  to  indicate  that  he  sailed  southwards  {continued) 
for  a  considerable  distance  on  the  eastern  side  of  that  island  in  order 
to  find  a  way  through.  This  is  confirmed  by  Munk's  statement  Page  54. 
that,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th,  he  found  himself  surrounded  by 
ice,  with  land  close  to  him  on  both  sides.  This  situation  would 
be  impossible  anywhere  in  that  neighbourhood,  except  in  the  bay 
formed  by  the  Digges  Islands  and  the  mainland,  near  the 
southern  opening  of  the  channel  separating  the  islands  from  the 
latter.  It  does  not,  however,  appear  with  certainty  whether 
Munk  purposely  tried  for  this  channel,  or  had  only  come  into 
this  position  by  accident.  Howbeit,  he  says  that,  finding  himself 
so  situated,  he  let  down  his  mainsail  and  hauled  himself  through 
where  the  ice  was  "  thinnest",  which  probably  is  to  be  taken  in  . 
the  sense  of  least  packed.  His  "  hauling  "  was  no  doubt  accom- 
plished by  throwing  the  grapnel  on  to  large  pieces  of  ice  and 
working  up  to  it.  Munk  does  not  say  expressly  that  in  this  way 
he  passed  through  the  sound  or  strait  in  question  ;  but,  as  he 
afterwards  says  that  he  passed  the  Soster  (the  Digges  Islands)  to 
port  on  his  return  voyage,  and  as  he  could  not  possibly  do  so 
except  by  sailing  through  that  strait,  the  context,  all  taken 
together,  leaves  no  doubt  on  the  point.  Nor  is  this  view  of 
the  matter  weakened  by  the  circumstance  that,  after  describing 
how  he  got  through  the  ice  and  into  clear  water,  he  states  that 
he  then  sighted  some  high  islands  (two  in  number)  to  starboard, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  the  south-west,  which  were  the  Soster 
or  the  Digges  Islands.  Nothing  is  more  likely  to  have  happened 
than  that  the  islands  were  so  much  enveloped  in  mist  while  he 
passed  through  the  strait  that  he  did  not  recognise  them,  but 
that  the  fog  cleared  and  revealed  them  to  him  when  he  had  got  into 
clear  water,  some  distance  to  the  north-west  of  them,  and  had 
turned  eastwards,  as  he  naturally  would  do,  as  soon  as  he  could. 
In  such  a  position,  he  would  have  them  to  starboard,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  S.W.  In  fact,  the  suddenness  with  which  he 
appears  to  have  got  a  sight  of  these  islands  would  be  inexplicable, 
except  on  the  supposition  that  they  had  been  obscured  by  a  fog, 
which  suddenly  lifted.  Munk's  expressions  admit,  on  the  face  of 
them,  the  interpretation  that  "  the  high  islands  "  which  he  saw  to 

9 


130  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

tef-  t0  starboard  comprised  the  Iisver ;  but  his  statements  in  the  place 
Text.      where  they  are  first  spoken  of,  to  the  effect  that  the  latter  were 


Page  54  ten  Danish  miles  or  more  to  the  east  of  the  So'ster,  preclude 
[continued)  sucn  an  interpretation  of  the  passage  before  us.  He  cannot  have 
seen  both  these  groups  to  the  south-west  at  the  same  time.  The 
expression  "  some  high  islands"  cannot  therefore  be  taken  to 
comprise  more  than  the  "  two  islands "  mentioned  afterwards. 
The  ambiguity  arises  from  the  expression  "  other  islands",  which 
he  applies  to  the  Iisver ;  but  the  use  of  the  word  "  other  "  may 
very  naturally  be  explained  as  a  consequence  of  Munk  having 
recollected,  when  he  wrote  this,  that  in  a  former  place  (in  his 
account  of  the  outward  voyage)  he  had  mentioned  them  together. 
Being  thus  assured  of  his  position,  Munk  set  his  course  E.S.E. 
through  Hudson's  Strait.  We  may  notice  as  remarkable  that  he 
does  not  here  mention  Nottingham  and  Salisbury  Islands,  any 
more  than  he  does  in  his  account  of  the  outward  voyage.  One 
is  tempted  to  suppose  that,  on  the  return  voyage,  they  were  hidden 
by  fog ;  and  that  this  may  be  a  reason  why  he  is  altogether  silent 
upon  them.  If,  as  we  have  suggested,  his  notes  concerning 
these  islands  taken  on  the  outward  voyage  were  not  sufficiently 
clear,  and  if  he  did  not  see  them  on  his  way  back,  he  would 
probably  consider  it  more  prudent  not  to  say  anything  about 
them.  Munk  says  that  he  steered  E.S.E.  when  he  found  himself 
inside  the  western  entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait ;  but  he  does  not 
say  whether  it  was  by  compass  or  by  a  true  course.  Most  likely 
it  was  the  latter ;  for  it  was  not  till  two  days  later  that,  having 
passed  his  Iisver  to  starboard,  he  approached  the  northern  coast 
of  Hudson's  Strait.  Thereupon  he  altered  his  course  to  E.  by  S., 
which,  as  he  expressly  says,  was  S.E.  by  E.,  allowance  being 
made  for  the  variation.  It  was  high  time  that  Munk  should  get 
away  from  these  cold  countries,  as  he  no  doubt  was  well  aware, 
because  he  mentions,  under  August  15th,  that  there  was  much 
snow,  that  the  wild  geese  were  again  flying  briskly  southwards, 
and  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  ice  in  the  strait,  though 
scattered.  He  says  it  was  nothing  but  loff  an  and  -hold  Dregen — 
words  of  command  which  we  have  translated  according  to  their 
sense,  and  which  no  doubt  refer  to  the  mode  of  progress  thus 
described  by  Jeremie1 :   "  On  se  graftine,  c'est-a-dire,  on  saisit  les 

1  In  Bernard's  Recueil  de  Voyages  an  Nord,  tome  VI  (Amsterdam, 
1720),  p.  4  (2nd  ed.,  tome  v,  1724,  p.  397;  3rd  ed.,  tome  III,  1732,  p.  306). 


COMMENTARY   ON    MUNKS    NARRATIVE.  131 

Navires  contre  ces  glaces  comme  contre  une  muraille,  &  lorsque  Rff-  ior 

v        .  Page  °f 

par  la  force  des  vents  &  des  courants,  qui  sont  tres-violens   dans  Text. 


ces  endroits-la  il  se  fait  quelqu'  ouverture  au  travers  des  glaces,  page  54 
alors  on  met  les  voiles  lorsqu'il  est  favorable,  pour  se  faire  passage  {continued) 
avec    de   longs    batons    ferrez."       Chappell    also    describes    this 
mode  of  working  by  grappling,  and  says1  that  a  main  point  is  to 
get   to  lee  of  these  large  floes,  where  one  is   in  quite  smooth 
water;   for  which  purpose  it  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  luff. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  having  cleared  the  Digges  Islands,  Pp.  55,  56. 
M unk  passed  Munkenes,  jn  noting  which  he  takes  the  opportunity 
of  adding  some  details  about  the  trending  of  the  coast  on  both 
sides  of  the  Cape,  which  prove  that  it  must  be  the  southernmost 
point  of  Resolution  Island.  It  took  them  33  days  to  cross 
the  Atlantic,  whilst  on  the  outward  voyage  20  days  had  sufficed 
from  the  coast  of  Norway  to  Cape  Farewell ;  but  on  the  home- 
ward voyage  they  suffered  severely  from  heavy  gales.  They 
were  too  few  to  work  the  sails  to  advantage,  particularly  as 
they  had  to  pump  incessantly.  Munk's  laconic  entries,  which 
day  by  day  describe  their  progress,  do  not  call  for  any  special 
remark. 

It  was  not  till  the  21st  of  September  1620,  that  the  sloop  in  a  page  57. 
a  "  flying  gale  "  (as  the  phrase  goes  in  Denmark)  shot  inden  Skers, 
that  is,  inside  the  belt  of  rocky  islands  which  girts  almost  every 
part  of  the'  coast  of  Norway,  forming  the  so-called  Skjcergaard, 
and  inside  which  they  were  safe  from  the  fury  of  the  Atlantic. 
They  did  not  at  the  time  know  what  place  they  had  come  to  ; 
but  Munk  gives — no  doubt  from  information  afterwards  acquired 
— the  name  of  one  of  the  outermost  islands  which  they  passed, 
viz.,  Allen,  generally  spelt  Alden,  one  of  a  group  called  Boland, 
outside  the  entrance  to  Dalsfjord,  which  no  doubt  was  the  large 
fjord  on  which  Munk  found  himself.  On  his  frequent  voyages  to 
the  north  of  Norway,  Munk  must  often  have  passed  and  repassed 
this  locality,  and  would  very  likely  have  recognised  the  outer 
islands  if  the  weather  had  been  favourable  ;  but  he  does  not  seem 
to  have  known  Dalsfjord  itself.  Dalsfjord  is  to  the  north  of 
Sognefjord,  so  well  known  to  tourists,  and  cuts  into  the  district  of 
Sonderfjord,  which  Munk  spells  Sundfjord.  Having  neither  a 
boat  nor  an  effective  anchor,  Munk  could  not  come  to  a  mooring  page  58. 

1  Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  Hudsorts  Bay  (London,  18 17),  p.  121. 

Q  2 


132  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

without  assistance  ;  and,  as  the  outer  part  of  Dalsfjord  is  rather 
desolate,  he  waited  in  vain  the  whole  day  for  somebody  coming 
out.  At  last  he  espied  a  man  in  a  boat,  whom  he  induced,  in  a 
rather  high-handed  fashion,  to  bring  a  hawser  on  shore  and  to 
convey  him  to  the  principal  official  of  the  district,  in  order  to 
demand  the  assistance  to  which  he  was  entitled  as  being  on 
the  King's  errand. 


Relics  of  MunKs  Sojourn  at  Port  Churchill. 

With  Munk's  arrival  at  Bergen  in  September  1620,  his  narra- 
tive ends,  though  (as  we  have  mentioned  in  our  sketch  of  his 
life)  he  did  not  reach  Copenhagen  until  Christmas.  But,  as  a 
fitting  supplement  to  Munk's  account  of  his  voyage,  we  may  here 
relate  what  is  known  about  the  fate  of  the  ship  and  its  belongings 
which  Munk  left  behind  at  Port  Churchill. 

It  is  evident  from  Munk's  expressions  that  he  expected  a  fresh 
expedition  to  be  sent  out  ere  very  long,  which  might  have  fetched 
home  Enhiorningen  ;  but  this  was  never  done,  and  would  have 
been  useless,  as  far  as  fetching  the  ship  was  concerned.  For 
more  than  fifty  years  after,  no  Europeans  are  known  to  have 
visited  Port  Churchill ;  and,  even  after  the  country  had  been 
occupied  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  founded  in  1670, 
little  attention  was  for  some  time  bestowed  upon  Churchill 
River,  though  a  small  fort  or  station  was  erected.  But  the 
importance  of  the  place  was  speedily  recognised  by  the  French, 
who,  during  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  century,  ousted  the 
Company  from  most  of  its  establishments  in  Hudson's  Bay,  of 
which  they  remained  in  possession  until  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  in 
1713.  The  French  officials,  having  heard  from  the  natives  of  the 
earlier  visit  of  strangers,  and  combining  these  reports  with  La 
Peyrere's  well-known  story,  readily  recognised  that  these  strangers 
who  had  come  by  sea  and  had  wintered  and  died  at  the  River 
Manoteousibi,  were  none  other  than  the  members  of  Jens  Munk's 
Expedition.  Accordingly  they  named  the  river  Riviere  Danoise, 
or  Riviere  de  Monc.  It  is  in  a  memoir  entitled  Relation  du  Detroit 
et  de  la  Baie  de  Hudso?i^  which  gives  the  earliest  geographical 

1  In  Bernard's  Recueil  de  Voyages  au  Nord,  tome  VI  (Amsterdam, 
1 720),  p.  3  (2nd  ed.,  tome  v,  1 724,  p.  396 ;  3rd  ed.,  tome  in,  1 732,  P-  305)- 


RELICS   OF   MUNK'S   EXPEDITION.  1 33 

description  of  the  country,  that  we  find  the  report  of  what  happened 
after  Munk's  departure.  It  is  written  by  M.  Jeremie,  who  was 
employed  in  the  country,  with  short  interruptions,  from  1694  to 
1714,  first  as  lieutenant,  afterwards — from  1708 — as  Governor, 
and  who  consequently  had  the  best  of  opportunities  for  obtaining 
reliable  information.  The  memoir  opens  with  the  following 
passage  :  — 

"Pour  prendre  les  choses  dans  leur  origine,  &  pour  mieux 
donner  l'intelligence  de  ma  Relation,  je  dirai  que  les  Danois 
navigerent  dans  ces  Pays,  il  y  a  quatre-vingt-dix  a  cent  ans." 

After  an  account  of  the  country  round  Hudson's  Strait,  and 
its  inhabitants,  he  continues  : — 

"  II  faut  presentement  revenir  a  notre  premier  dessein,  et  dire 
que  les  Danois,  apres  avoir  passe  tout  le  Detroit  dont  je  viens  de 
faire  la  description,  continuant  toujours  leur  route  vers  le  Nord, 
aborderent  enfin  la  Terre  ferme  a  une  Riviere  que  Ton  a 
nommee  Riviere  Danoise,  &  que  les  Sauvages  nomment  Manote- 
ousibi,  qui  signifie  Riviere  des  Etrangers.  La,  ils  mirent  leurs  Vais- 
seaux  en  hyvernement  et  se  logerent  aussi  du  mieux  qu'ils  purent, 
comme  gens  qui  n'avoient  nulle  experience  de  ce  Pays.  &  qui  se 
defioient  pas  du  grand  froid  qu'ils  avoient  a  combatre :  Enfin, 
ils  essuyerent  tant  de  miseres,  que  la  maladie  s'etant  mise  entr' 
eux,  ils  moururent  tous  pendant  l'hiver,  sans  qu'aucun  Sauvage 
en  eut  connoissance. 

"  Le  Printems  venu,  les  glaces  deborderent  avec  leur  im- 
petuosite  ordinaire,  &  emporterent  leur  Vaisseau  avec  tout  ce 
qui  etoit  dedans,  a  la  reserve  d'un  canon  de  fonte  d'environ 
8  livres  de  balle,  qui  y  resta,  &  qui  y  est  encore  tout  entier,  excepte 
le  tourillon  de  la  culasse  que  les  Sauvages  ont  casse  a  coups  de 
pierres. 

"  Les  Sauvages  furent  bien  etonnez  l'Ete  suivant,  lorsqu'ils 
arriverent  dans  ce  lieu,  de  voir  tant  de  corps  morts,  &  des  gens 
dont  ils  n'en  avoient  jamais  vu  de  semblables.  La  terreur 
s'empara  d'eux  &  les  obligea  de  prendre  la  fuite,  ne  sachant  que 
s'imaginer  en  voyant  un  tel  spectacle.  Mais,  lorsque  la  peur  eut 
fait  place  a.  la  curiosite,  ils  retournerent  dans  le  lieu  011  ils 
auroient  faitrselon  eux,  le  plus  riche  pillage  qui  jamais  ait  ete  fait. 
Mais,  malheureusement,  il  y  avoit  de  la  poudre,  dont  ils  ne 
savoient  pas  les  proprietez  ni  la  vertu  ;  ils  y  mirent  imprudemment 
le  feu  qui  les  fit  tous  sauter,  brula  la  maison  &  tout  ce  qui  etoit 


134  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

dedans  ;  de  maniere  que  les  autres,  qui  vinrent  apres  eux,  ne 
profiterent  que  des  cloux  et  autre  ferremens,  qu'ils  ramassoient 
dans  les  cendres  de  cet  incendie." 

Jeremie's  description  of  the  river  in  question  leaves  no  doubt 
as  to  its  being  the  Churchill  River,  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
retained  the  name  of  Riviere  Danoise,  or  Danish  River,  for  a 
long  time.  It  may  be  specially  mentioned  that  a  confusion  with 
the  Seal  River  is  excluded  by  the  fact  that  Jeremie  describes  this 
separately  under  the  name  of  la  Riviere  du  Loup-Marin. 

From  this  account  (which  must  have  lived  as  a  tradition 
amongst  the  natives  for  a  long  time),  it  seems  to  follow  that, 
although  Munk  did  not  succeed  in  coming  into  contact  with  the 
natives,  some  of  these  must  have  observed  the  arrival  of  the  ships, 
or  at  any  rate  have  seen  the  frigate  before  its  destruction,  or  they 
could  not  have  known  anything  about  those  strangers  having 
come  by  sea.  That  the  ship  had  not  been  carried  off  by  the  ice,  as 
they  probably  concluded  from  not  finding  it  when  they  came 
down  to  the  place,  but  had  been  destroyed  in  the  place  where  she 
was  left,  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  fact  of  one  of  the  larger  cannon 
having  been  found,  which  we  know  that  Munk  caused  to  be  put 
in  the  hold.  As  Munk  left  Enhiorningen  safe  on  July  16th, 
where  she  would  not  any  more  be  exposed  to  drifting  ice,  and  as  he 
does  not  allude  to  any  natives  having  shown  themselves  before 
his  departure,  it  is  perhaps  the  most  probable  conclusion,  that  it 
was  only  in  the  next  following  spring  that  the  event  related  by 
Jeremie  took  place,  when  the  ice  of  the  second  winter  had 
destroyed  the  ship.  At  the  same  time,  it  should  be  noticed  that 
a  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  natives  had  obtained  copper 
"  from  the  brass  guns  of  a  Danish  wreck,  which  they  found  on 
some  coast,"  indicates  the  existence  of  a  different  version  of  the 
story.1 

As  the  French  took  possession  of  the  place  in  1694,  the  piece 
seen  by  M.  Jeremie  was  probably  the  same  as  that  of  which  Sir 
John  Richardson2  speaks  as  having  been  found  when  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  established  themselves  at  Port  Churchill, 
which  they  did  in  1688,  and  the  same  to  which  the  Clerk  of  the 


1  See  J.  Robson's  Account  of  a  Six  Years'  Residence  at  Hndsorfs  Bay 
(London,  1752),  p.  69. 

2  The  Polar  Regions,  p.  107. 


RELICS   OF   MUNK'S    EXPEDITION.  1 35 

California  alludes  in  proof  of  Munk  having  wintered  at  Port 
Churchill.     He  says  it  was  marked  C4.1 

The  discovery  of  another  piece,  evidently  one  of  the  falconets, 
is  mentioned  in  a  valuable  manuscript  work  entitled  Observations 
on  Hudson's  Bay,  written  about  1770,  by  Thomas  Hutchins,  a 
surgeon,  and  chief  factor  in  the  service  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  in  whose  library  the  manuscript  is  now  preserved. 
The  passage  referred  to  (fol.  245)  is  as  follows  : — 

"  Munk  wintered  in  Churchill  River.  I  have  seen  the  bricks 
and  other  marks  where  he  had  his  house,  &  two  of  his  cannon 
has  been  found,  one  of  which  in  my  time  at  Churchill,  about  the 
size  of  a  three-pounder,  and  marked  Christian  the  IVth  of 
Denmark,  etc." 

To  the  above  may  be  added  that  the  natives  are  reported2  to 
have  supplied  themselves  with  metal  from  the  wreckage,  etc. 
It  has  even  been  contended  that  they  never  possessed  any  before  ; 
but,  although  this  may  be  true  as  regards  iron,  it  is  not  so  as 
regards  copper,  which  is  found  in  the  country  and  has  been 
worked  since  time  immemorial.  Not  to  speak  of  that,  Munk's 
cannon  were  of  brass,  and  not  of  copper. 

What  became  of  these  cannon  does  not  appear  to  be  known  ; 
but  it  does  not  seem  quite  impossible  that  some  relics  of  Munk's 
Expedition  may  yet  be  found. 


1  An  Account  of  a  Voyage  to  Hudson's  Bay  .  .  .  (London  1748),  1, 
p.  105. 

2  See  J.  Robson's  Account  of  a  Six  Years'  Residence  at  Hudson's 
Bay  (London,  1752),  p.  69. 


136  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 


II. — Observations    on    Munk's  Map,   and   on    the 
Geographical  Results  of  his  Voyage. 

On   Munk's  Instructions. 

Having  in  the  foregoing  pages  critically  examined  Munk's 
account  of  his  voyage,  we  are  now  in  a  position  to  consider  what 
were  the  results  of  that  enterprise  as  regards  the  solution  of  the 
problem  for  the  sake  of  which  it  was  undertaken,  as  well  as 
regards  the  advancement  of  geographical  knowledge. 

In  approaching  this  matter  we  are  naturally  led  back  to  the 
question  of  Munk's  instructions.  As  stated  above  (p.  xcvii),  no 
copy  or  extract  of  the  letter  of  instructions  given  to  him  in  his 
capacity  of  commander  of  the  expedition  is  now  known  to  exist. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  being  able  to  refer  to  such  a  document 
for  the  better  understanding  of  the  narrative,  we  are  left  to  infer 
from  the  latter  what  that  document  may  have  contained.  In  the 
course  of  our  observations  on  Munk's  report,  we  have  accordingly 
drawn  attention  to  the  indications — direct  or  indirect — which  it 
contains,  as  to  how  he  was  instructed  to  proceed  ;  and  we  may 
now  conveniently  place  together  and  supplement  what  has  thus 
been  advanced,  in  different  places,  on  this  subject.  We  may  so 
much  the  more  safely  base  our  conclusions  with  regard  to  what  he 
was  to  do,  on  his  report  of  what  he  actually  did,  as  Munk 
repeatedly  affirms  that  he  had  obeyed  his  instructions  as  closely 
as  he  could. 

To  begin  with,  we  notice  that  Munk's  direct  course  from 
Karmsund  on  the  west  coast  of  Norway,  where  he  had  put  in 
on  account  of  the  sloop  having  sprung  a  leak,  would  have  been 
almost  due  west,  between  the  islands  of  Orkney  and  Shetland, 
south  of  Cape  Farewell,  straight  on  to  the  coast  of  America. 
Munk,  however,  steered  north-west  after  leaving  Stavanger  fjord, 
as  far  as  the  northern  extremity  of  Shetland,  from  whence  he  took 
a  westerly  course,  passing  closely  to  the  south  of  the  Faero  group, 
with  the  result  that  he  struck  the  coast  of  Greenland  somewhat  to 
the  north  of  Cape  Farewell — according  to  the  MS.  in  lat.  6o° 
25',  according  to  the  printed  text  in  lat.  6i°  25'.  Munk  does 
not  say  whether  this  was  intentional  or  not ;  but  the  former 
appears  the  more  probable.  As  he  evidently  took  some  trouble 
to   approach  Cape  Farewell,  and  to    start   from   thence   across 


munk's  instructions.  137 

Davis'  Strait,  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  he  had  been  directed  to 
do  so ;  and,  in  that  case,  it  would  be  very  natural  for  him  to 
approach  the  east  coast  of  Greenland  purposely,  in  order  to  drop 
down  to  Cape  Farewell  with  the  Arctic  current  which  sets  south- 
wards along  the  coast.  He  may  have  done  so  from  his  own 
knowledge,  or  by  the  advice  of  his  pilots,  but  he  may  very  well 
have  been  ordered  to  do  so,  just  as  was  the  case  with  Captain 
Button  when  he  sailed  for  Hudson's  Bay  in  161 2.  In  the  seventh 
paragraph  of  the  letter  of  instructions  given  to  Captain  Button  it 
is  stated  :  "  We  think  your  surest  waie  wil  be  to  stand  upp  to  Ice- 
land and  soe  over  to  Groinland  in  the  heighte  of  61,  soe  to  fall 
downe  with  the  current  to  the  most  south'erlie  cape  of  that  land 
lying  in  about  590,  called  Cape  Farewell,"  etc.1 

Munk  implies  plainly  that  he  was  directed  to  cross  Davis' 
Strait  in  order  to  seek  the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait  in  about 
lat.  6 20  30',  and  that,  in  order  to  recognise  the  latter  the  more 
readily,  he  was  instructed  to  look  for  an  island  situated  there,  in 
lat.  62 °  30'.,  He  does  not  say,  however,  whether  this  island  was 
supposed  to  lie  in  the  entrance  itself  or  on  one  side,  either  south 
or  north  of  it.  This  point  in  Munk's  instructions  is  rather  remark- 
able. The  question  arises  :  From  what  source  can  those  who 
drew  up  those  instructions  have  derived  the  information  on  which 
they  based  that  direction  for  Munk,  that  he  was  to  recognise 
Hudson's  Strait  by  an  island  situated  in  lat.  62°  30'?  That  the 
entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait  is  bounded  by  an  island  on  the  north 
side  (Resolution  Island)  had  been  recognised  already  by  Frobisher, 
and  afterwards  by  Weymouth  and  Button  ;  but  the  localities 
visited  by  the  former  were  (as  we  know)  at  the  time  believed  to 
lie  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  and  neither  Weymouth's  nor 
Button's  reports  had  yet  been  made  public.  Hudson  had  not 
recognised  Resolution  Island  as  such,  though  the  southern  end  of 
Gabriel  Strait  is  indicated  on  his  chart  as  published  by  Hessel 
Gerritsz.  On  the  latter  map,  however,  a  group  of  three  islands 
are  figured  to  the  north  of  the  entrance — no  doubt  a  duplicate  of 
Resolution  Island.2     The  instruction  to  look  for  an  island  marking 


1  See  Miller  Christy,  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  p.  637. 

2  Accordingly,  on  some  French  maps  they  are  called  lies  de  Resolu- 
tion. It  would  be  perhaps  more  correct  to  say  that  they  represent 
Resolution  Island  and  the  Lower  Savage  islands. 


138  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait  may,  therefore,  have  been  taken 
from  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map,  and  may  really  refer  to  Resolution 
Island.  But  the  indication  of  the  latitude  in  which  that  island 
was  to  be  found  must  have  been  taken  from  another  source, 
because,  on  the  map  in  question,  the  entrance  of  Hudson's 
Strait  is  placed  fairly  correctly  between  lat.  6o°  30'  and  61  °  35'.  It 
can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  figure  62 °  30'  for  the  latitude  of 
this  island  is  founded  on  Davis'  account  of  his  voyage,  in  which 
he  ascribes  the  latitude  of  620  to  his  Lumley's  inlet.  As  we  have 
explained  before,  the  latter  was,  in  Munk's  time,  looked  upon 
as  part  and  parcel  of  Hudson's  Strait,  so  that  on  Gerritsz.'s  map 
the  name  of  "  Lomlies  Inlet"  is  placed  against  the  main  entrance 
to  Hudson's  Strait.  The  instruction  to  look  for  an  island  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Strait,  and  the  figure  for  the  latitude  of  the  island, 
were  thus,  as  it  would  seem,  derived  from  two  different  sources  : 
it  being  overlookedj  or  not  understood,  that  these  two  items 
referred  to  different  places. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Button's  instructions  not  only  direct  him 
to  approach  Hudson's  Strait  from  Cape  Farewell  very  much  in 
the  manner  as  Munk  appears  to  have  been  ordered  to  do,  but 
also  contain  the  same  mistake,  which  we  have  just  pointed  out,  as 
regards  the  latitude.  The  document  in  question  continues  from 
the  last  word  of  the  passage  just  quoted,  thus:  "wch  pointe 
[Cape  Farewell],  as  the  ice  will  give  you  leave,  you  must  double ; 
and  from  thence,  or  rather  from  20  or  30  L.  to  the  Northward  of 
it,  if  you  shall  fall  ouer  Davis  his  streights  to  the  western  Maine, 
in  the  height  62  Degrees  or  thereabouts,  you  shall  finde  Hudson's 
streights,  wch  you  maie  knowe  by  the  furious  course  of  the  Sea 
and  Ice  into  it,  and  by  certaine  Islandes  to  the  Northerne  side 
there  of  as  your  carde  [doubtless  Hudson's]  shows."  Striking, 
however,  as  this  coincidence  is,  what  we  have  adduced  in  the 
foregoing  sufficiently  explains  how  the  error  in  question  may  have 
the  same  origin  in  both  cases,  independently  of  one  another. 

As  regards  the  navigation  through  the  strait,  there  is  nothing  in 
the  narrative  to  suggest  that  Munk  had  any  particular  instructions. 
We  may  note,  however,  that  he  at  once  took  to  following  the 
northern  shore  as  far  as  Haresund,  opposite  Cape  Hope's  Advance 
(called  by  Hudson  Cape  Prince  Henry);  for,  if  he  acted  thus 
under  instructions  to  that  effect,  these  must  have  been  founded 
on  information  obtained  from  England,  where  it  was  known  at 


munk's  instructions.  139 

that  time  that  the  northern  shore  was  the  more  free  from  ice.  In 
this  case  we  should  have  another  coincidence  between  Munk's 
and  Button's  instructions,  of  which  latter  the  eighth  paragraph 
commences  thus  :  "  Being  in  [Hudson's  Strait]  We  holde  it  best 
for  you  to  keepe  the  Northerne  side  as  most  free  from  pester  of 
ice,  at  least  till  you  be  past  Cape  Henry",  etc.  ■  At  the  same  time 
there  is  no  necessity  for  supposing  that  Munk,  in  this  particular, 
acted  in  obedience  to  orders,  for,  as  he  came  from  the  north,  he 
would  naturally  follow  the  northern  shore. 

Having  passed  through  Hudson's  Strait  and  arrived  at  the 
entrance  of  Hudson's  Bay,  Munk  appears  to  have  crossed  the 
latter  without  hesitation  in  a  south-westerly  direction  ;  and,  as  he 
does  not  state  his  reasons  for  so  doing,  we  may  fairly  conclude 
that  he  did  so  in  obedience  to  his  instructions,  as  Button  had 
done  before  him.  In  the  letter  of  instructions  given  to  the  latter, 
we  read  in  the  eighth  paragraph  the  following :  "  Therefore, 
remembering  that  your  end  is  West,  we  should  have  you  stand 
over  to  the  opposite  Maine,  in  the  latitude  of  some  58  degrees 
[which  implies  a  south-westerly  course]  etc."  Indeed,  it  does  not 
seem  too  much  to  say,  that  if  Munk  had  sailed  under  Button's 
instructions  he  could  scarcely  have  acted  very  differently  from 
what  he  did.  There  is  not,  however,  on  that  account  any  neces- 
sity for  thinking  that  Button's  instructions  were  known  in 
Denmark ;  for  in  this  case,  as  in  the  others  we  have  mentioned, 
there  is  another  and  quite  natural  explanation  of  the  coincidence 
between  the  modes  of  action  of  the  two  commanders.  The  fact 
that  Button  had  crossed  the  Bay,  sailing  south-west,  and  thus  had 
reached  the  western  shore,  had  been  published  by  Purchas,  and 
may  therefore  be  supposed  to  have  been  pretty  generally  known. 

With  regard  to  the  exploration  work  to  be  done  by  Munk  in 
the  Bay,  it  should  be  observed  that,  as  we  have  stated  before 
(p.  xcv  to  p.  xcvii),  the  shores  of  the  Bay  had,  previously  to  1619, 
been  examined  so  far,  that  there  remained  only  four  points 
towards  which  future  expeditions  in  search  of  a  North-West 
Passage  could  reasonably  be  directed.  As  regards  two  of  these, 
Roe's  Welcome  and  what  we  now  call  Fox  Channel,  there  is 
no  indication  that  Munk  was  charged  with  the  exploration  of 
them ;  but  that  he  was  enjoined  to  examine  the  south-western 
and  southern  coasts  of  the  Bay  seems  to  be  clearly  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  Gordon  and  Watson,  when  they — shortly  after  leaving 


140  DANISH    ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Haresund — mistook  a  portion  of  the  south  coast  of  Hudson's 
Strait  for  the  western  shore  of  Hudson  Bay,  at  once  steered 
southwards  along  the  coast,  examining  it  as  they  went. 

Nor  was,  in  our  opinion,  the  question  whether  a  passage  might 
not  still  be  found  somewhere  in  the  west  coast  overlooked  in 
Munk's  instructions.  We  have  already  (p.  105)  propounded  the 
view  that  the  sloop  was  sent  away  on  purpose,  when  the  expedi- 
tion had  entered  Hudson's  Bay  in  order  to  explore  a  portion  of  the 
northern  and  western  coast  before  rejoining  the  frigate  farther 
south  on  the  west  coast ;  and  we  are  of  opinion  that  it  was  not  a 
random  search  which  was  thus  instituted,  but  that  it  was  under- 
taken in  consequence  of  some  distinct  injunction  in  Munk's 
instructions.  Munk's  statement  that  during  the  separation  of  the 
two  vessels  the  sloop  had  been  "under  the  northern  land,  where 
an  open  passage  was  supposed  to  exist  but  there  was  none",  may 
— we  admit — be  understood  as  importing  merely  that  the  party  in 
the  sloop,  while  near  the  coast  in  question  (whether  accidentally 
or  purposely),  had  observed  what  looked  like  a  passage,  but  on 
examination  found  that  it  was  no  such  thing.  But  this  does  not 
seem  to  us  a  natural  interpretation.  If  that  was  all,  Munk  would 
scarcely  have  alluded  to  it,  or  he  would  have  expressed  himself 
otherwise.  It  is  far  more  agreeable  to  his  simple  diction  to  under- 
stand those  words  as  meaning  that  the  sloop  had  been  under  the 
"northern  land",  because  an  opening  was  supposed  to  exist  there, 
and  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  so  or  not.  This  inter- 
pretation implies  that  in  some  quarters  there  was  an  idea  that  a 
passage  was  likely  to  be  found  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  that 
Munk  had  had  his  attention  drawn  to  it.  As  regards  the  former 
of  these  points,  we  have  already  stated  that,  at  that  time,  the 
notion  was  very  generally  entertained  in  England,  that  a  passage 
would  be  found  on  the  western  shore  of  Hudson's  Bay,  more 
particularly  in  a  place  with  which  the  name  of  "  Hubbart's  Hope" 
was  associated  ;  and,  as  regards  the  latter  point,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, that  though  in  1619  nothing  had  as  yet  been  published  con- 
cerning "  Hubbart's  Hope",  information  concerning  it  had  most 
likely  reached  Denmark — if  through  no  other  channel,  through 
Gordon  and  Watson.  In  our  opinion,  therefore,  the  sloop  was 
dispatched  on  purpose  to  "  the  northern  land",  there  to  look  for 
the  opening,  the  existence  and  position  of  which  was  connected 
in  men's  minds  with  "Hubbart's  Hope".      As,  however,  this  view 


MUNK'S  INSTRUCTIONS.  141 

does  not  agree  with  what  has  hitherto  been  accepted  concerning 
"Hubbart's  Hope",  we  must  enter  a  little  more  fully  into  the 
matter  in  order  to  show  that,  although  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  has 
been  very  generally  taken  to  be  only  another  name  for  Churchill 
Bay,  or  even  Churchill  River,  it  had  originally  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  that  locality.     The  facts  are  the  following  : — 

Although  Button,  on  his  return  in  16 13,  could  not  claim  to 
have  discovered  any  passage  or  any  channel  which  might  be 
looked  upon  with  probability  as  the  eastern  opening  of  a  passage, 
he  had  by  no  means  abandoned  the  hope  of  a  passage  being 
found,  as  appears  both  from  his  own  statements  and  from  other 
contemporary  evidence,1  notably  from  the  statements  of  Purchas.2 
The  account  of  this  author,  to  whom  we  owe  our  principal 
information  on  "  Hubbart's  Hope ',  is  the  following  :  "  Once  he 
[Button]  was  very  confident  in  conversation  with  me  of  a  passage 
that  way,  and  said  that  he  had  therein  satisfied  his  Maiestie,  who 
from  his  discourse  in  private  inferred  the  necessitie  thereof.  And 
the  mayne  argument  was  the  movement  of  the  Tyde."  After 
stating  what  Button  had  observed  concerning  the  direction  of  the 
tide  at  Nelson  River  during  the  winter  161 2-1 3,  Purchas  continues: 
"  The  summer  following  he  found  about  lat.  of  60  degrees,  a  strong 
Race  of  a  Tyde,  running  sometimes  eastward,  sometimes  west- 
ward. Whereupon  Josiah  Hubert,  in  his  Piatt,  called  that  Place 
'  Hubbart's  Hope',  as  in  the  map  appeareth."  Neither  Hubert's 
Piatt,  nor  any  copy  of  it,  is  now  known  to  exist,  but  the  map  to 
which  Purchas  refers  is  the  one  prepared  by  Henry  Briggs,  which 
accompanies  Purchas's  discourse  on  the  probability  of  a  North- 
west Passage,  from  which  we  have  been  quoting.  On  this  map 
we  find  the  name  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  in  lat.  6o°,  which  we  must 
infer  from  Purchas's  words  to  be  the  same  place  in  which  it 
appeared  on  the  Piatt.  The  expressions  used  by  Purchas,  just 
quoted,  plainly  convey  that  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  originally  meant 
that  place  in  Hudson's  Bay  where  the  tide  was  observed  to  come 
sometimes  from  the  west,  or,  as  they  sailed  near  the  west  coast, 
the  nearest  point  of  the  latter.  It  is  evident  that  Hubert  called 
the  place  by  that  name,  not  because  he  there  observed  anything 

1  See  Miller  Christy,  Voyages  of  Foxe  and  James,  pp.  lxv-lxvii  and 
lxxi. 

2  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  iii,  p.  848. 


I42  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

that  looked  like  the  opening  of  a  passage,  but  because  he  founded 
fresh  hopes  of  finding  a  passage  on  the  consideration  that  the 
flood  tide  could  not  come  from  the  west  in  that  place  unless  there 
existed  a  passage  admitting  it  from  the  Pacific ;  though  that,  of 
course,  might  be  some  distance  off,  particularly  as  the  tide  did  not 
invariably  come  from  the  west.  Nevertheless  it  is  equally  plain 
from  Briggs'  Map  that  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  had,  somehow  or 
other,  come  to  be  misunderstood,  at  least  by  some,  as  if  it  meant 
some  insufficiently  explored  bay  or  inlet,  which  Hubert  was 
supposed  to  have  looked  upon  as  likely  to  lead  to  a  passage. 
The  opening  of  such  an  inlet  in  lat.  6o°  is  marked  on  Briggs' 
Map.  Both  Foxe  and  James  took  the  name  of  "  Hubbart's  Hope" 
in  that  sense,  and  on  their  voyages  in  1631  (coming  from  the 
north)  sought  for  such  an  inlet  in  lat.  6o°  and  further  south,  until 
they  were  close  to  the  southern  shore  of  what  we  now  call 
Churchill  Bay.  Finding  nothing  else  that  answered  to  their  ideas 
of  "  Hubbart's  Hope",  they  appear  to  have  concluded  that  what 
was  meant  by  this  name  was  that  very  bay,  and  this  view  has 
ever  since  been  generally  accepted. 

Purchas's  statement,  however  (which  is  decisive,  being  the 
original  and  only  authentic  source  of  information  on  the  subject), 
shows  that  Hubert  did  not  apply  the  name  in  question  to  any 
opening  supposed  to  be  connected  with  the  passage.  Nor  is  he 
in  the  least  likely  to  have  thought  that  a  passage  would  be  found 
in  Churchill  Bay.  When  Button  and  his  party  observed  that 
strong  flow  of  tide  from  the.  west  they  had  only  just  left  that 
locality,  and  if  they  had  thought  that  it  came  through  Churchill 
Bay,  surely  they  would  have  returned  at  once  and  sought  there 
for  the  passage,  to  discover  which  they  had  come  all  the  way 
from  England.  The  fact  of  their  not  doing  so  clearly  proves  that 
they  did  not  at  the  time  imagine  that  the  opening  of  the  passage 
was  in  Churchill  Bay  :  nor  are  they  likely  to  have  formed  such  an 
idea  afterwards.  The  low-lying  coast  round  that  open  and  com- 
paratively shallow  bay  is  not  at  all  of  such  a  character  that 
anybody,  knowing  so  much  of  it  as  Button's  party  must  have 
done,  could  reasonably  suspect  a  passage  between  two  mighty 
oceans  to  be,  as  it  were,  lurking  there.  In  a  mountainous 
country,  the  opening  of  such  a  passage  might  well  be  a  narrow 
one,  but,  in  a  flat  country,  the  waters  would  have  made  a  way  for 
themselves  that  could  not   be  overlooked.     It  is  not  to  be  sup- 


munk's  instructions.  143 

posed  that  Button,  or  anyone  who  had  been  with  him  there, 
could  afterwards  have  imagined  that  they  had  twice  passed  the 
opening  of  a  channel  admitting  the  tide  from  the  Pacific,  in  a 
place  like  that,  without  noticing  it.  Still  less  probable  is  it  that 
they  should  have  noticed  the  Churchill  River,  and  that  this 
should  be  meant  by  "  Hubbart's  Hope";  or  that  they  should  after- 
wards have  bethought  themselves  that  this  might  be  the  looked- 
for  passage.  Not  only  does  its  insignificant  size  preclude  this 
latter  notion,  but  there  is  no  indication  whatever  of  their  having 
particularly  noticed  or  even  observed  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
Even  if  the  name  of  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  had  reference  to  some  par- 
ticular bay  or  inlet,  there  is,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  no  evidence 
at  all  connecting  it  with  Churchill  River.  On  the  contrary,  the 
mouth  of  the  latter  is  in  lat.  590,  but  the  race  of  tide  was 
observed  in  lat.  6o°. 

The  mistake  that  has  been  committed  in  the  matter  of 
"  Hubbart's  Hope"  appears  to  us  to  have  been  mainly  this  :  that 
it  has  been  taken  for  granted  that  if  the  passage,  of  which  the 
course  of  the  tide  at  "  Hubbart's  Hope"  apparently  gave  evidence, 
was  not  found  in  lat.  6o°,  it  would  be  found  south  of  that  place. 
In  reality  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  such  was  the  idea  of 
Josias  Hubert ;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  a  strong  piece  of  evi- 
dence pointing  in  quite  the  opposite  direction,  but  the  bearing 
of  which  on  this  question  has  hitherto  been  overlooked.  We 
refer  to  Josias  Hubert's  answer  to  Capt.  Button's  "  second 
demand",  as  related  by  Luke  Foxe.1  This  writer  relates  how 
Button,  while  in  winter  quarters  at  Nelson  River,  set  the  more 
intelligent  of  his  men  to  work  out  problems  of  navigation  for 
exercise,  and  he  publishes  some  of  their  answers.  One  of 
the  questions — the  one  referred  to  by  Josias  Hubert  as  the  second 
demand — appears  to  have  been  to  the  effect,  how  they  had  better 
proceed  in  their  work  of  exploration  when  the  milder  season  should 
set  them  free  again.  Hubert's  words  are  as  follows  :  "  My  answer 
to  the  2  Demand  is  to  search  to  the  Northward  about  this 
Westerne  land,  untill  if  it  be  possible,  that  we  may  finde  the  flood 
coming  from  the  Westward,  and  to  bend  our  courses  against  that 
flood,  following  the  ebbe,  searching  that  way  for  the  passage  for 

1  North- West  Foxe,  1635,  p.  120;  Miller  Christy,  Voyages  of  Foxe 
and  James,  pp.  1 71-172. 


144  DANISH    ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

this  flood  which  we  have  had  from  the  Eastward.  I  cannot  be 
persuaded,  but  that  they  are  the  veynes  of  some  headlands  to  the 
Northwards  of  the  Checks,  and  by  the  Inlets  of  Rivers  which 
let  the  flood  tides  into  them,  which  Headlands  being  found,  I 
do  assure  myselfe  that  the  tide  will  be  found  to  come  from  the 
Westward." 

We  do  not  see  any  way  of  interpreting  this  statement  otherwise 
than  that  Hubert,  while  at  Nelson  River,  after  having  passed 
Churchill  Bay  on  his  way  down  from  "  Hopes  Checked"  (in  lat. 
6o°  40'),  was  of  opinion  that  the  passage  would  be  found  north  of 
those  headlands,  which,  he  expected,  would  be  discovered  north 
of  "  Hopes  Checked " :  that  is,  not  in  Churchill  Bay,  which  is 
south  of  lat.  6o°,  but  some  way  to  the  north  of  6o°  40'. 

This,  then,  was  the  idea  which  was  in  Hubert's  mind  when,  on 
going  north  next  summer,  he  observed  a  strong  tide  flowing 
sometimes  from  the  west,  in  about  lat.  6o°.  It  is  easy  to  under- 
stand that  he  and  others  looked  upon  this  fact  as  strongly  con- 
firmatory of  his  views  ;  and  it  is  equally  easy  to  understand  why 
Button,  who  appears  to  have  shared  Hubert's  ideas,  did  not  turn 
back  to  look  for  the  passage  in  Churchill  Bay,  but  on  the  con- 
trary pressed  on  and  sought  for  it  north  of  "Hopes  Checked", 
about  the  inlets  in  the  north-west  corner  of  Hudson's  Bay.  Their 
search  was  in  vain  ;  but  as  the  coast  is  much  indented  and  girt 
with  islands,  there  is,  under  the  circumstances,  nothing  remarkable 
in  the  fact  that  they,  nevertheless,  clung  to  their  preconceived 
notions  about  the  movement  of  the  tide,  and  what  might  be  con- 
cluded from  it ;  and  that,  rather  than  abandon  their  hopes,  they 
considered  it  probable  that  they  had  somehow  overlooked  the 
opening  of  a  passage.  This,  we  believe,  they  expected  to  be 
found  somewhere  north  of  lat.  6o°  40',  far  from  Churchill 
Bay,  and  we  believe  that  the  representation  on  Briggs'  map, 
whereby  Foxe  and  James  were  misled,  rested  on  a  mistake.  Of 
how  old  date  this  mistake  may  be  we  cannot  tell ;  we  do  not 
hear  of  it  till  1625,  when  Briggs'  map  appeared  in  Purchas's 
Pilgrimes,  that  is,  twelve  years  after  Button's  return.  But  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  in  16 18-19,  when  the  King  of 
Denmark  and  his  advisers  obtained  the  information  on  which 
they  acted  in  sending  out  an  expedition,  and  when  Gordon  and 
Watson  came  to  Denmark  in  order  to  take  part  in  it,  the  mistaken 
notion  of  Hubert's  ideas  which  we  have  been  criticising  had  not 


munk's  instructions.  145 

yet  supplanted  the  true  one,  which,  if  we  are  not   in  error,   may 
fairly  be  assumed  to  have  been  current  for  some  time. 

Taking  all  this  into  consideration,  we  have  little  or  no  doubt  that 
Munk  was  instructed  to  search  for  a  passage  in  that  part  of  the 
bay  where  Hubert,  as  we  think,  had  hoped  to  find  one  ;  and  that 
for  this  purpose  the  sloop  was  sent  out  to  "  the  northern  land." 
Whether  the  dispatching  the  sloop  by  herself  on  this  errand  was 
part  of  the  original  plan,  we  cannot  guess.  That  this  was  the  case 
may,  perhaps,  be  inferred  from  Munk's  silence  as  to  his  motive  • 
at  the  same  time  it  is  quite  possible  that  that  step  may  have  been 
decided  upon  on  the  voyage,  for  when  they  arrived  in  Hudson's 
Bay,  the  season  was  so  far  advanced  that  it  may  have  been 
thought  advisable  thus  to  divide  the  work. 

As  we  have  already  stated,  Munk  was  doubtless  instructed  to 
cross  the  Bay  in  a  south-westerly  direction,  in  order,  first,  to 
examine  that  part  of  the  opposite  coast  to  which  such  a  course 
would  bring  him,  and  from  which  he  might  afterwards  proceed 
northwards,  if  necessary,  whenever  the  season  permitted. 
But  it  appears  that  he  was  not  merely  instructed  in  a  general 
way  to  explore  the  coast.  Munk  says  that,  while  in  Ungava  Bay 
"the  English  pilot"  (that  is,  Gordon)  at  one  time  intimated  that 
the  low  wooded  land  which  they  found  to  the  south  of  that  bay 
was  "  the  place  which  they  searched  for."  After  a  time,  however, 
Gordon  convinced  himself  that  it  was  not  so.  From  these  state- 
ments we  may  infer  that  Munk's  letter  of  instructions  directed 
him  to  look  for  some  particular  place,  the  description  of  which 
answered,  in  some  measure,  to  the  character  of  the  low  wooded 
land  forming  the  south  coast  of  Ungava  Bay.  At  the  same  time, 
the  letter  of  instructions  must  also  have  given  information  which 
enabled  them  to  conclude  from  their  examination  that  this  land 
was  not,  after  all,  "  the  place"  in  question.  For  what  purpose 
this  place  was  sought  is  not  stated  ;  but,  as  the  passage  to  the 
Pacific  itself  is  evidently  not  meant,  the  only  other  reasonable 
interpretation  seems  to  be,  that  a  halting-place  was  intended,  from 
which  exploring  trips  might  be  undertaken,  and,  probably,  also 
where  the  expedition  might  winter :  for  Munk's  expressions  leave 
no  doubt  of  such  an  eventuality  having  been  foreseen.  Some 
definite  place  was,  it  would  seem,  indicated  by  his  instructions, 
and  one  is  tempted  to  think  that  it  was  none  other  than  Port 
Nelson,  where  Button  had  wintered. 

10 


146  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

Here,  however,  we  meet  the  serious  question  :  From  what 
source  could  those  who  drew  up  Munk's  instructions  have 
obtained  information  about  any  locality  whatever  on  the  west 
coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  ?  No  one  had  been  there  except  Button, 
and  his  report  had  not  been  published,  nor  did  the  short  notice 
in  Purchas's  Pilgrimage  supply  any  such  information.  There  seems 
to  be  no  other  alternative  than  to  assume  that  special  unpub- 
lished information  on  Button's  voyage  was  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Danish  authorities,  and  the  most  reasonable  view  seems  to  be 
that  it  was  obtained  through  Watson — supposing  that  he  had 
served  under  Button.  If  so,  it  might  also  account  to  some 
extent  for  his  being  entrusted  with  the  exploration — at  any  rate, 
the  preliminary  exploration — of  the  northern  portion  of  the  West 
Coast  Bay,  as  he  would  have  been  present  at  "  Hubbart's  Hope," 
when  that  famous  tide,  coming  from  the  west,  was  observed  ;  and 
would  know  more  than  anybody  else  in  the  expedition  what 
precise  expectations  were  founded  on  it. 

In  Munk's  account  of  his  wintering  and  return  journey  there  is 
no  allusion  to  his  instructions,  and  we  have  no  clue  whatever  to 
his  ulterior  orders.  We  cannot,  therefore,  pursue  this  subject  in 
further  detail,  but  in  addition  to  the  above,  we  may  say  that  the 
care  with  which  Munk  examined  courses,  passages  and  harbours 
everywhere,  and  which  did  not  seem  to  be  called  for  by  his  imme- 
diate necessities,  seem  to  indicate  that  he  was  especially  directed 
to  investigate  all  such  matters  :  as  we  have  seen  that  the  com- 
manders of  the  expedition  to  Greenland  in  1605-6-7  were.1 

Munk's  Map. 

With  regard  to  the  geographical  results  of  Munk's  voyage  we 
have  principally  to  consider  his  map,  which  is  worthy  of  much 
more  attention  than  its  appearance  may  bespeak  for  it  at  first 
sight.  It  is  but  coarsely  cut  in  wood,  which  is  so  much  the  more 
unfortunate,  as  it  is  drawn  on  a  small  scale.  The  names  are  put 
in  rather  carelessly,  upside  down,  and  in  some  cases  far  from 
their  proper  places  ;  several  of  them,  too,  are  badly  misspelled. 
No  degrees  are  indicated ;  moreover,  some  features  of  it  are  cer- 
tainly not  based  on  actual  observations.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no 
reason  for  doubting  that  it  is,  upon  the  whole,  as  faithful  a  repre- 

1  See  Book  I,  pp.  xlv,  xcvi. 


munk's  map.  147 

sentation  of  Munk's  ideas  of  the  countries  he  had  visited  as  his 
own  (or  his  draughtsman's)  skill  in  drawing,  and  the  resources 
of  a  Copenhagen  printer  of  that  period,  could  produce ;  and — 
making  due  allowance  for  circumstances — we  believe  that  when 
properly  examined  (which  has  never  yet  been  done)  it  will  be 
found  to  be  no  mean  performance  for  its  date,  in  spite  of  its 
obvious  shortcomings. 

In  comparing  Munk's  map  with  others,  it  cannot  but  be  felt  as 
an  inconvenience  that  no  degrees  of  latitude  or  longitude  are 
indicated  on  it ;  and  their  absence  is  so  much  the  more  to  be 
regretted,  as  Munk,  if  he  had  marked  them,  would  have  avoided 
some  serious  misunderstandings  on  the  part  of  others.  At  the 
same,  time,  however,  it  must  of  course  be  assumed  that  the 
different  localities  are  put  down  (or,  at  any  rate,  are  intended  to 
appear)  in  their  proper  positions  relatively  to  each  other,  accord- 
ing to  Munk's  conception  of  them ;  from  which  it  follows  that  the 
indications  of  the  geographical  position  of  certain  places  given  in 
the  text  indirectly  determine  that  of  others.  Nor  is  there  any 
great  difficulty  in  supplying  the  defect  in  question  :  if  not  with 
perfect  accuracy,  at  any  rate  with  sufficient  approximation  to 
accuracy  to  render  a  comparison  with  other  maps  possible. 

Of  Munk's  statements  in  the  text  concerning  the  position  of 
various  localities,  only  one  refers  to  longitude  ;  but  there  are 
several  references  to  latitude ;  and  if  the  places  in  question  had 
been  put  down  on  the  map  accurately  in  the  relative  positions 
assigned  to  them  in  the  text,  we  should  of  course  have  had  a 
secure  basis  for  laying  down  both  parallels  and  meridians;  but  this 
has  not  been  done,  and  parallels  drawn  through  these  localities 
would  mostly  not  be  in  their  proper  distances  from  one  another, 
according  to  Munk's  figures.  A  sufficiently  near  approximation 
may,  however,  be  arrived  at  in  the  following  manner.  Amongst 
the  latitudes  mentioned  by  Munk,  four  refer  to  well-defined 
points,  viz.,  Cape  Farewell  in  6o°  30',  Munkenes  in  6i°  20',  Hare- 
sund  in  620  20',  and  Kolde  Hug'vtx  620  30'.  If  we  measure  the 
distances  from  south  to  north  between  each  of  these  points 
and  the  others  on  the  map,  and  compare  them  with  each  other 
and  with  the  figures  given  in  Munk's  text,  we  find  that  Kolde  Hug 
is  placed  somewhat  to  the  south  of  Haresund,  instead  of  north  of 
the  same  ;  but  that  the  other  distances,  of  an  average,  correspond 
very  nearly  to  a  scale  of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  a  degree  of 

10  2 


I48  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

latitude ;  none  of  them  much  exceeding  or  falling  much  short  of 
that  measurement.  We  shall,  therefore,  probably  be  sufficiently 
near  the  mark,  if  we  ascribe  to  Munk's  map,  as  we  have  it,  a  scale, 
based  on  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  between  the  parallels 
of  6o°  and  6i°,  and  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch  for  each  degree  of 
longitude  ;  the  map  being  no  doubt  intended  to  be  drawn  on 
Mercator's  projection.  As  any  inaccuracy  in  the  distance  between 
the  parallels  quickly  betrays  itself  in  the  longitudes,  if  these  are 
calculated  from  it,  we  may  notice  the  fact  that  if  the  scale  indicated 
is  applied  to  Munk's  map,  both  the  distance  from  the  west  coast  of 
Hudson's  Bay  to  the  westernmost  point  of  Digges  Islands  (repre- 
sented, in  our  opinion,  on  Munk's  map,  by  the  extreme  western 
point  of  the  south  coast  of  Hudson's  Strait),  and  also  the  dis- 
tance from  this  latter  point  to  Cape  Farewell,  turn  out  to  cover 
just  the  proper  number  of  degrees :  a  fact  which  appears  to 
us  strongly  to  confirm  our  view  that  Munk's  map  really  is  drawn 
on  the  scale  we  have  suggested.  It  may  be  objected  that,  although 
it  appears  from  this  that  Munk  correctly  estimated  the  pro- 
portion between  the  distances  in  question,  it  does  not  follow  that 
Munk  himself  considered  the  two  distances  mentioned  to  cover 
just  the  number  of  degrees,  which  happens  to  be  correct.  That 
Munk,  however,  really  intended  the  degree  of  longitude  to  be  as 
we  have  indicated,  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  following  very 
remarkable  fact.  A  striking  peculiarity  of  Munk's  map  is  the 
proportionately  excessive  length  of  Hudson's  Strait :  a  feature  to 
which  we  shall  have  to  revert  again,  but  of  which  we  may  say  at 
once  that  it  was  undoubtedly  borrowed  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map. 
This  being  so,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Munk  intended 
the  Strait  to  occupy,  on  his  own  map,  the  same  number  of  degrees 
of  longitude  as  it  does  on  Gerritsz.'s  map.  On  this  latter,  the 
distance  between  the  extreme  western  point  of  the  Digges  Islands 
and  the  northernmost  point  of  Labrador  covers  20  deg.  45  min., 
or  very  nearly  21  degrees;  whilst  on  Munk's  map  the  correspond- 
ing distance  covers  two  inches  and  five-eighths,  which,  divided  by 
21,  give  the  same  results  as  we  found  before,  viz.,  one-eighth  of 
an  inch  to  a  degree  of  longitude. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  probably  quite  accidental  that 
these  coincidences  are  so  close  as  they  really  are,  but  they  can 
scarcely  be  looked  upon  as  in  the  main  fortuitous.  We  have, 
therefore,  no  hesitation  in  basing  our  comparison  of  Munk's  map 


munk's  map.  149 

with  others  on  the  assumption  that  it  is  drawn  to  the  scale  above 
indicated.  At  the  same  time,  it  should,  of  course,  be  noted  that 
we  have  no  means  of  guessing  the  size  of  Munk's  original  map, 
which  probably  was  very  much  larger  than  the  reproduction  of  it 
in  his  book  ;  and  that  it  is  probably  quite  accidental  that  it  has  been 
reduced  to  a  size  in  which  the  proportions  of  the  degrees  can  be 
expressed  so  simply,  in  English  measure,  as  we  have  indicated. 

In  numbering  the  degrees  of  longitude  we  ought,  in  strictness, 
to  go  by  Munk's  figure  for  the  longitude  of  Cape  Farewell, 
the  only  one  he  mentions,  viz.,  6o°  30',  which,  as  we  have 
already  explained,  must  be  understood  as  counted  from  Frank- 
fort on  the  Oder.  As  this  place  is  situated  in  long.  140  34' 
east  of  Greenwich,  Munk's  figure  for  Cape  Farewell  would 
be  equivalent  to  45  °  56'  west  of  Greenwich,  provided  that  his 
calculation  started  from  the  true  longitude  of  Frankfort ;  and 
as  the  true  longitude  of  Cape  Farewell  is  430  53',  his  figure  is,  on 
that  supposition,  2  deg.  3  min.  too  high.  For  the  whole  of  this  error, 
however,  Munk  can  scarcely  be  held  responsible.  We  have 
already  stated  that  he  does  not  appear  to  have  determined  any 
longitudes  by  astronomical  observation.  He  was  doubtless  in 
that  respect  reduced  to  calculation  by  dead -reckoning,  which  he 
probably  started  from  Copenhagen.  According  to  Origanus,1  the 
clock  difference  between  the  latter  place  and  Frankfort  on  the 
Oder  is  13  minutes,  corresponding  to  3  deg.  15  min.  of  longitude, 
whereas  the  true  difference  is  only  one  deg.  59  min.  Assuming, 
therefore,  that  Munk  obtained  his  figure  for  the  longitude  of  Cape 
Farewell  by  adding  3  deg.  15  min.  to  the  result  of  his  dead 
reckoning  from  Copenhagen,  we  find  that  out  of  his  total  error  as 
much  as  one  deg.  16  min.  is  due  to  his  being  misled  by  Origanus, 
which  leaves  a  fault  of  his  own  of  only  47  min.  too  much. 

On  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map  Cape  Farewell  stands  in  about  longi- 
tude 3440  30'  east  of  St.  Miguel,  Azores,  which  corresponds  to 
400  40'  west  of  Greenwich.  As,  however,  longitudes  in  those  days 
were  reckoned  from  several  different  starting-points,  it  would  be 
tedious  to  compare  Munk's  figure  for  the  longitude  of  Cape 
Farewell  with  those  of  other  cartographers,  but  we  believe  it 
would  be  found  more  correct  than  that  on   most  maps  of  the 

1  Novcb  Motuum  Coelestium  Ephemerides  ....  Francofurti  in  Via- 
drum.     Anno  1609,  p.  105. 


150  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

seventeenth  century.  Nor  would  such  a  comparison  be  of  much 
interest  for  our  present  purpose,  because  the  main  question  before 
us  is  not  whether  Munk  correctly  estimated  the  difference  in 
longitude  between  Cape  Farewell  and  any  other  point  to  the  east 
of  it,  not  shown  on  the  map,  but  whether  the  different  localities 
shown  on  the  map  are  in  their  proper  relative  longitude ;  and  for 
this  purpose  we  must  measure  their  distance  from  some  point  on 
the  map,  which  can  be  none  other  than  Cape  Farewell.  How 
Munk  himself  would  have  numbered  the  meridian  of  Cape  Fare- 
well, if  he  were  to  have  counted  from  Greenwich,  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing.  This,  however,  is  indifferent  for  our  purpose, 
and  in  order  to  compare  the  longitude  of  any  place,  as  shown  on 
Munk's  map,  with  the  longitude  of  the  corresponding  place  on  a 
modern  map,  we  need  only  add  the  figure  for  the  true  longitude 
of  Cape  Farewell  to  the  figure  indicating  the  difference  in  longi- 
tude between  the  place  in  question  and  Cape  Farewell,  according  to 
our  scale.  For  simplicity's  sake  we  shall  count  from  the  meridian 
of  440  instead  of  from  the  Cape  itself,  which  is  in  long.  430  53'. 

In  order  to  facilitate  a  comparison  between  Munk's  map  and 
modern  ones,  we  have  caused  a  copy  of  the  former,  with  the  de- 
grees of  latitude  and  longitude  marked  according  to  what  has  been 
explained  in  the  foregoing,  to  be  here  inserted1.  As  the  writing 
on  Munk's  map  is  put  on,  looking  south  instead  of  north,  we 
have  inserted  one  set  of  the  figures  for  the  degrees  in  keeping  with 
the  writing  on  the  map,  whilst  the  other  set  corresponds  to  the  usual 
practice.  Owing  to  the  small  size  of  Munk's  map,  and  the  clumsi- 
ness of  its  execution,  smaller  differences  than  five  minutes  of 
latitude  or  ten  minutes  of  longitude  cannot  be  estimated  with 
certainty,  nor  is  any  greater  accuracy  required  for  our  purpose. 

Thus  prepared,  we  may  now  proceed  to  compare  Munk's  map, 
on  the  one  hand  with  modern  ones,  in  order. to  test  its  accuracy, 
on  the  other  hand  with  those  of  an  earlier  date,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain how  far  he  may  have  been  influenced  by  them  or  improved 
upon  them.  Of  the  latter  class,  practically  only  one  comes  into 
consideration,  and  that  only  as  regards  Hudson's  Strait,  viz.,  the 


1  The  copy  having  turned  out  a  trifle  too  large,  the  degrees  very 
slightly  exceed  the  measurements  given  on  p.  145  ;  but  this,  of  course, 
does  not  affect  our  argument.  The  marking,  too,  of  the  degrees  is 
not  quite  even,  but  accurate  enough  for  our  purpose. 


munk's  map.  151 

one  published  in  161 2  by  Hessel  Gerritsz.,  in  order  to  illustrate 
Hudson's  discoveries.  Hudson's  Strait  and  Bay  (the  former,  at 
any  rate)  had  indeed  been  known  for  more  than  half  a  century 
before  Hudson's  time,  having  been  visited  by  Portuguese,  after- 
wards by  French  and  others,  who  resorted  in  great  numbers  to 
the  Newfoundland  Bank  for  fishing.  The  Strait,  in  some  cases 
apparently  the  Bay  also,  are  accordingly  marked  on  numerous 
maps  of  the  16th  century,  generally  under  the  Portuguese  name 
of  Baia  dus  Medans ;  but  although  the  general  outline  and  the 
position  of  these  parts — mostly  near  the  proper  latitude — exclude 
all  doubt  as  to  what  is  meant  by  the  designers  of  these  maps,  the 
representations  of  the  coasts  in  question  generally  exhibit  so  little 
resemblance  to  reality  in  detail,  that  a  close  comparison  with  more 
modern  maps  is  out  of  the  question.  These  earlier  maps  need 
not,  therefore,  be  further  noticed. 

During  the  time  between  the  publication  of  Gerritsz. 's  map  and 
that  of  Munk  others  are  known  to  have  been  executed,  notably 
those  of  Josias  Hubert  and  William  Baffin,  but  they  were  not  pub- 
lished at  the  time.  Henry  Briggs'  map,  published  in  Purchas's 
Pilgrimes  in  1625,  was  no  doubt  founded  on  these  two,  and  may 
have  existed  before  Munk's  map  was  published  in  1624,  but 
there  is  no  indication  of  Munk  having  known  any  of  them. 
Hessel  Gerritsz. 's  map,  which  Munk  certainly  made  use  of,  is 
therefore  the  only  earlier  one  that  we  need  here  consider. 

The  first  particular  of  Munk's  map  to  which  we  would  draw 
attention  is  the  southern  extremity  of  Greenland,  which  is  drawn 
much  narrower  and  more  true  to  nature  than  on  that  of  Hessel 
Gerritsz.,  and  many  other  maps  of  that  period,  no  doubt  in 
accordance  with  Munk's  own  observations.  A  deep  inlet  is 
shown  on  the  west  coast  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Cape  Farewell, 
and  another  less  deep  on  the  east  coast  in  the  same  latitude ;  but 
there  is  no  indication  at  all  of  any  strait  penetrating  from  the 
east  coast  into  Davis'  Strait  corresponding  to  the  Frobisher  Strait 
of  the  Molyneux  Globe,  etc.  Nor  is  there  any  indication  of  this 
Strait  higher  up  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  which,  however, 
is  not  shown  on  this  map  further  north  than  620  30'.  Some 
portions  of  the  west  coast  of  Greenland  Munk  may  have  seen,  but 
for  the  most  part  he  must  have  borrowed  his  representation  of  it 
from  his  predecessors.  The  same  holds  good  of  the  American 
coast  north  of  lat.  630,  and  the  coast  of  Labrador,  all  of  which 


152  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

seem  to  have  been  filled  in  for  the  sake  of  completeness  without 
any  pretension  to  accuracy. 

The  first  locality  explored  by  Munk  on  the  west  coast  of 
America  was  his  Iisefjorde  (Frobisher's  Strait  or  Lumley's  Inlet), 
and  his  representation  of  it  is  evidently  quite  independent. 
Although  Davis  had  already  described  this  inlet,  which  is  indica- 
ted on  the  '  New  Map',  it  is  quite  absent  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s 
map,  and  the  name  is  there  transferred  to  what  was  afterwards 
called  Hudson's  Strait.  The  coastline  between  what  is  really 
Resolution  Island  and  the  country  north  of  Lumley's  Inlet  is 
interrupted — as  if  it  were  still  unexplored — but  there  is  no  indica- 
tion of  anything  like  an  inlet.  Close  outside  is  an  island  called 
the  Island  of  Good  Fortune,  Gerritsz.  having,  as  it  seems,  thought 
that  the  island  spoken  of  by  Weymouth  as  lying  near  Lumley's 
Inlet  might  be  the  Ilha  de  Fortune  of  the  Portuguese,  which, 
however,  on  the  old  maps  is  placed  south  of  the  entrance  to 
Baia  dus  Medaus  (Hudson's  Strait).  Of  this  there  is  nothing 
on  Munk's  map,  where  we  simply  find  two  deep  inlets,  of  which 
the  larger  more  northerly  one — no  doubt  Frobisher's  Bay — trends 
south-east  to  north-west,  whilst  the  more  southerly  one,  which  we 
identify  with  the  northern  end  of  Gabriel's  Sound,  has  a  more 
east-westerly  direction.  Had  Munk's  map  become  generally 
known  it  would  have  served  to  preserve  the  real  Lumley's  Inlet 
in  its  place  in  the  maps,  from  which  it  disappeared  for  150  years. 
The  coast  north  of  the  inlet  was  not  explored  by  Munk,  and  is 
put  down  by  him  too  far  east. 

Resolution  Island  is  not  represented  as  such  either  on  Gerritsz.'s 
or  on  Munk's  map,  though  the  southern  entrance  of  Gabriel 
Sound  is  shown  on  the  former,  the  northern  entrance — as  we 
believe— on  the  latter.  Outside  it,  Gerritsz.  has  placed  three 
small  islands  to  which  we  have  alluded  above  as  being  col- 
lectively a  duplicate  of  Resolution  Island.  As  they  do  not  exist, 
Munk  cannot  have  observed  any  islands  in  that  place.  Never- 
theless, we  find  three  such  marked  on  his  map,  though  very 
indistinctly,  between  the  coast  of  what  really  is  Resolution  Island, 
and  the  representation  of  two  ships.  If  they  are  meant  for  the 
same  islands  which  are  shown  on  Gerritsz.'s  map,  we  must 
suppose  that  they  have  been  put  on  in  deference  to  the  authority 
of  the  latter  ;  but  as  the  coast  is  not  very  accurately  laid  down  in 
this  place  it  is  difficult  to  decide  the  question. 


MUNKS   MAP.  153 

A  fact  which  strikes  one  at  once,  on  comparing  Munk's  map 
with  a  modern  map,  is  that  the  distance  between  Cape  Farewell 
and  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait  is  much  too  small.  If  we 
take  a  line  between  the  northernmost  point  of  Labrador  and 
Cape  Resolution  to  mark  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Strait,  we 
find  this  to  be  on  Munk's  map,  according  to  our  scale,  13  deg. 
and  20  min.  distant  from  the  meridian  of  440,  from  which  we 
count  instead  of  from  Cape  Farewell.  In  reality,  the  line  indica- 
ted coincides  almost  accurately  with  the  meridian  of  640  30'  west 
of  Greenwich,  and  the  distance  in  question  is  20  deg.  30  min.,  or 
7  deg.  10  min.  more  than  it  appears  to  be  on  Munk's  map.  In 
this  respect  Gerritsz.  is  nearer  to  the  truth,  as  on  his  map  the 
distance  between  Cape  Farewell  and  the  north  point  of  Labrador 
covers  about  22  deg.  45  min.  As  it  is  not  in  the  least  likely  that 
Munk  should  have  made  so  great  a  mistake  in  estimating  the 
distance,  the  fact  that  on  the  map  it  is  represented  as  occupying 
seven  degrees  of  longitude  less  than  it  really  does  requires  a 
special  explanation.  At  first  sight  it  might  be  thought  that 
perhaps  it  had  been  caused  by  a  wish  to  bring  Cape  Farewell 
within  the  compass  of  the  map  without  giving  the  latter  an  incon- 
venient size.  But  against  this  must  be  put  the  consideration, 
that  after  all  but  very  little  would  be  gained  in  point  of  expense 
or  otherwise  by  such  an  expedient ;  and  also  the  important  fact, 
already  mentioned,  that  on  Munk's  map  the  proportionate 
distance  between  Cape  Farewell  and  the  western  extremity  of 
Hudson's  Strait  is  correctly  indicated,  which  seems  to  show  that 
Cape  Farewell  has  not  been  moved  out  of  its  proper  place. 
There  remains  only  the  alternative  of  supposing  that  the  eastern 
coast  of  America  has  been  moved  towards  the  East,  and  this 
explanation  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  fact  that  an  excessive 
length  has  been  attributed  to  Hudson's  Strait.  As  already 
mentioned,  this  feature  is,  in  our  view,  borrowed  from  Hessel 
Gerritsz.'s  map,  on  which  the  Strait  extends  through  nearly 
21  degrees  of  longitude  instead  of  13  degrees  and  40  minutes, 
measured  from  the  northernmost  point  of  Labrador  to  the 
westernmost  point  of  the  Digges  Islands.  It  is  not  only, 
generally  speaking,  very  improbable  that  two  different  persons 
should  have  fallen  into  such  an  error  independently  of  one 
another;  but  there  subsists,  besides,  as  we  shall  see,  so  close 
an    agreement   between   the   two   maps  as  regards  the  manner 


154         DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

in  which  the  excessive  length  of  the  Strait  has  been  produced, 
that  we  are  debarred  from  any  other  conclusion  than  that  this 
feature  has  been  transferred  to  Munk's  map  from  the  earlier 
one  of  Hessel  Gerritsz.  Indeed,  this  error  of  the  latter  carto- 
grapher reappears,  more  or  less  pronounced,  on  many  maps  of 
the  seventeenth  and  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries. 
Hessel  Gerritsz.  did  not  possess  any  independent  information  by 
which  he  could  check  his  (or  Hudson's)  calculation  of  the  length 
of  the  Strait,  and  he  therefore  simply  extended  it  sufficiently  far 
westwards.  Accordingly,  we  find  on  his  map  that,  whilst  the 
northernmost  point  of  Labrador  stands  in  long.  32 ie  45',  accord- 
ing to  his  numbering,  equal  to  long.  63°  25'  west  of  Greenwich, 
the  westernmost  point  of  the  Digges  Islands  is  in  long.  30 1°, 
equal  to  long.  840  10'  west  of  Greenwich,  that  is  six  degrees 
too  far  west.  Munk  appears  to  have  adopted  a  contrary  pro- 
ceeding. He  seems  to  have  felt  sure  that  the  westernmost  point 
of  the  Digges  Islands  was  not  farther  from  Cape  Farewell  than  a 
little  over  34  degrees.  Placing  it  accordingly  in  that  position,  he 
could  not  accommodate  the  great  length  attributed  to  Hudson's 
Strait  by  Hessel  Gerritsz.  otherwise  than  by  shortening  the  dis- 
tance between  Cape  Farewell  and  the  entrance  of  the  Strait  by 
seven  degrees.  That  is  accordingly  what  we  find  done  on  his  map. 
Originally,  this  error  with  regard  to  the  length  of  Hudson's 
Strait  must  of  course  have  been  caused  by  a  miscalculation  of  the 
distance  sailed,  whether  due  to  Fludson — of  whose  card  Gerritsz. 's 
map  is  supposed  to  be  a  reproduction — or  to  Cierritsz.  himself. 
But  the  question  remains,  what  can  have  induced  Munk  to  adopt 
it?  The  general  impression  produced  by  a  careful  study  of 
Munk's  work  is  that,  whenever  he  had  observations  of  his  own  to  go 
by  he  trusted  them  more  than  the  statements  of  others  ;  the  fact, 
too,  that  he  estimated  the  distance  between  Cape  Farewell  and 
the  western  extremity  of  the  Strait  so  accurately,  proves  tfrat  he 
was  by  no  means  without  material  for  judging  rightly  in  the 
matter,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  miscalculated  the  distance 
between  Cape  Farewell  and  the  American  coast.  We  therefore 
consider  it  probable  that,  in  accommodating  his  map  to  Hessel 
Gerritsz.'s  in  this,  as  in  some  other  particulars  which  will  be 
mentioned,  he  yielded  to  some  special  consideration.  It  may  be 
that  he  felt  somewhat  diffident  in  deviating  considerably  from  a 
map  of  so  much  note ;  or,  more  likely,  it  may  be  that  in  design- 


MUNK'S   MAP.  155 

ing  the  map  he  had  the  co-operation  of  some  person  to  whom  he 
felt  bound  to  defer,  or  to  whom  by  force  of  circumstances  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  it,  and  who  thought  more  of  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s 
map  than  of  Munk's  notes  and  sketches. 

In  examining  more  closely  this  matter  of  the  length  of  Hudson's 
Strait,  we  find — what  in  fact  is  implied  in  the  preceding  remarks 
—  that  the  error  in  question  does  not  affect  all  parts  of  the  Strait 
equally.  It  will  be  found  that  the  easterly  displacement  is  greater 
near  the  entrance  than  higher  up,  gradually  diminishing  as  we 
ascend  the  Strait.  At  the  entrance  it  amounts  to  7  deg.  10  min., 
the  northernmost  part  of  Labrador  being  in  about  long. 
570  20'  instead  of  640  30'  ;  but  the  extreme  western  point 
of  Digges  Islands  is  in  its  proper  longitude.  It  will  also  be 
observed  that  the  lengthening  of  the  Strait  is  not  merely  or 
principally  brought  about  by  drawing  the  various  portions  of 
coast  which  really  had  been  examined  by  Munk  proportionally 
too  long,  but  mostly  by  insertion  of  pieces  of  coast  which  have  no 
real  existence  at  all.  It  is  evident  from  Munk's  narrative  that  he 
was  not  favoured  with  a  continuous  sight  of  the  shore  on  either 
side,  but  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  only  detached  portions, 
which  afterwards  were  connected  by  conjectural  lines ;  and  it  is  in 
these  intervals  that  the  interpolations  to  which  the  excessive 
length  of  the  Strait  is  mostly  due  occur. 

Coming  now  to  details,  we  observe,  first,  that  the  width  of  the 
entrance,  measured  between  the  parallels  of  the  northernmost  point 
of  Labrador  and  of  Munkenes  is,  according  to  Munk's  map, 
about  one  deg.  and  30  min.,  which  is  about  45  min.  too  much, 
and  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  Munkenes  is  placed  about  10  min-.  ■ 
more  northerly  than  it  ought  to  have  been  according  to  the  text, 
and  that  the  northernmost  point  of  Labrador  is  placed  about 
35  min.  too  southerly.  On  Gerritsz.'s  map  the  two  points  are  in 
their  correct  latitude. 

The  island  which  is  seen  in  the  entrance  is  no  doubt  the 
largest  of  the  Button  islands,  but  it  is  drawn  much  too  large  ; 
probably  because  Munk  took  it  to  be  the  one  by  which,  according 
to  his  instructions,  he  was  to  recognise  the  opening,  and  wished 
to  draw  attention  to  it.  It  is  shown  on  the  map  in  the  latitude 
given  in  the  text.  On  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map  no  island  is  marked 
in  that  position,  but  many  old  maps  show  some  islands  in  the 
same  position,  the  largest  of  which  is  called  Ilha  de  Fortune. 


156  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

Turning  our  attention  first  to  the  south  coast,  we  come  at 
once  inside  the  opening  to  the  longest  of  the  interpolated 
portions.  On  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map  it  is  quite  straight ;  at  the 
eastern  extremity  a  headland  juts  out  from  it,  which  represents 
the  northernmost  projection  of  Labrador ;  at  its  western  ex- 
tremity a  quite  similar  prominent  headland  is  observed,  from 
which  the  coast  trends  away  in  a  southerly  direction  into 
Ungava  Bay.  The  second  projection  of  land  is,  no  doubt,  a 
mere  duplicate  of  that  terminating  in  the  northernmost  point  of 
Labrador,  and  its  appearance  on  Gerritsz.'s  map  may  be  explained 
by  supposing  that  Hudson,  when  he  found  himself  forced  south- 
wards by  the  wind  and  the  ice  into  Ungava  Bay,  and  observed 
the  headland  to  the  east  and  the  coast  trending  away  from  it  to 
the  south,  failed  to  recognise  it  as  the  same  which  he  had  seen 
forming  the  south  side  of  the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Strait,  but 
imagined  it  to  be  another  similar  one  situated  further  west. 
Munk,  who  like  Hudson  came  into  Ungava  Bay  unintentionally, 
may  have  been  deceived  in  a  similar  manner ;  or  he  may  have 
borrowed  this  feature  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.,  and  modified  it  accord- 
ing to  his  own  observations.  On  Munk's  map  the  interpolated 
imaginary  piece  of  coast  in  question  is  much  larger  than  on  Ger- 
ritsz.'s map,  nor  is  it  straight  as  on  the  latter.  The  south  coast  of 
Hudson's  Strait  is  on  Munk's  map  seen  to  recede  just  inside  the 
entrance — very  much  as  it  really  does — though  in  a  south-westerly 
instead  of  a  southerly  direction.  This,  however,  is  continued  only  for 
a  distance  of  about  seventy  miles,  after  which  the  coast  turns  north- 
west, forming  in  this  way  a  triangular  bay,  into  which  a  broad  river 
or  inlet  is  seen  to  open.  To  the  west  of  this  bay  another  very 
similar  but  smaller  one  is  marked,  bounded  to  the  west  by  what 
we  consider  the  duplicate  of  the  northern  projection  of  Labrador, 
beyond  which  the  coast  definitely  turns  into  Ungava  Bay.  Neither 
of  these  bays  exists ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how, 
having  observed  the  coast  to  fall  away  to  the  south,  just  inside  the 
entrance  to  the  Strait,  and  supposing  the  headland  which  he  saw 
to  the  east  in  sailing  into  Ungava  Bay  to  be  a  different  one, 
Munk  may  have  been  led  to  draw  the  coastline  which  he  supposed 
to  connect  them,  as  he  has  done,  though  we  cannot  suggest  the 
origin  of  the  inlet  at  the  bottom  of  the  triangular  bay. 

The  great  expansion,  or  bay,  on  the  south  side  of  Hudson's 
Strait,  just  inside  the  entrance,  is  drawn  more  open,  and,  in  so  far 


munk's  map.  157 

more  true  to  nature  on  Gerritsz.'s  map  than  on  Munk's,  where 
it  is  encroached  upon  by  the  interpolated  piece  of  land  just  spoken 
of.  At  the  same  time,  Munk's  representation  is  superior  in  so 
far,  that  Hope's  Advance  Bay  and  Akpatok  are  distinctly  marked, 
whilst  there  is  no  indication  of  them  on  Gerritsz.'s  map.  This  is 
a  rather  remarkable  fact,  considering  that  it  is  quite  clear  from 
Prickett's  account  that  Hudson  penetrated  quite  as  far  into 
Ungava  Bay  as  Munk  did  afterwards,  and  that  Hudson's  party 
observed  that  Akpatok  was  an  island.1  On  Munk's  map,  Ungava 
Bay  is  not  so  sharply  separated  from  the  Strait  as  it  is  in  reality, 
because  Akpatok,  the  supposed  promontory  of  Alckenes,  is  drawn 
too  short,  and  with  a  main  direction  a  little  south  of  east,  instead 
of  north-east.  In  consequence  of  this,  Hope's  Advance  Bay 
appears  not  to  be  drawn  deep  enough,  but  the  western  extremity 
of  it  is  laid  down  one  deg.  and  30  min.  wrest  of  the  meridian  of  the 
point  corresponding  to  Cape  Hope's  Advance,  which  is  only 
10  min.  out  of  proportion.  The  shallow  bay  formed  by  the 
main  land,  and  the  islands  of  Ekkertaujok  and  Akpatok,  to  the 
north  of  the  latter,  appears  too  deep  and  narrow  (on  account 
of  an  incorrect  projection  of  the  coast  south  of  Cape  Hope's 
Advance) ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  bottom  of  Ungava  Bay  is 
in  lat.  5 8°,  only  25  min.  too  southerly.  On  Gerritsz.'s  map  it  is 
in  lat.  590. 

Concerning  Snee  Oeland  we  can  say  nothing  definite,  on 
account  of  the  uncertainty  still  existing  as  to  the  true  place  of 
Green  Island,  with  which  we  have  identified  it.  In  any  case,  it 
seems  to  be  placed  too  northerly  in  proportion  to  some  other 
localities,  but  the  receding  part  of  the  Strait  in  which  it  is  situated 
is  drawn  too  narrow.  Snee  Oeland  is  not  shown  on  Gerritsz.'s 
map,  where,  however,  another  island  is  marked  close  to  Cape 
Hope's  Advance,  which  Munk  does  not  notice.2 

The  point  on  Munk's  map  corresponding  to  Cape  Hope's 
Advance  is,  according  to  the  scale  which  we  are  applying,  about 
22  deg.  40  min.  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  corresponding  to  long. 


1  See  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes,  vol.  iii,  p.  509 ;  Asher,  Henry  Hudson, 
p.  104  (Hakluyt  Soc,  i860). 

2  It  may  be  noted  here  that  on  the  map  this  name  is  apparently 
spelt  Snecer,  a  corruption,  which  seems  to  show  that  Munk  has  not 
revised  the  writing  on  the  map. 


158  DANISH   ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

66°  40'  west  of  Greenwich,  whereas  the  promontory  really  lies 
in  long.  700.  It  is,  therefore,  about  3  deg.  20  min.  too 
far  east,  but,  as  the  displacement  of  the  entrance  amounts  to 
7  deg.  10  min.,  the  error  is  considerably  diminished  in  this  part 
of  the  Strait.  On  Gerritsz.'s  map  this  point  is  in  long.  720  20' 
west  of  Greenwich. 

The  next  point  west  of  Cape  Hope's  Advance  which  admits  of 
fairly  certain  identification  is  Munk's  Sydemes,  which,  we  believe, 
represents  Prince  of  Wales's  Island  merged  into  the  somewhat 
broader  projection  of  land  to  the  south  of  it,  which  in  reality  is 
separated  from  the  island  by  a  narrow  sound.  On  Munk's  map 
the  prominent  piece  of  coast  against  which  the  name  of  Syder?ies 
is  placed  lies  between  long.  27  and  28  deg.  west  of  Cape  Fare- 
well (corresponding  to  long.  7i°and  7 20  west  of  Greenwich),  whilst 
the  portion  of  the  coastline  which  it  represents  in  reality  only 
reaches  from  long.  720  25'  to  720  50'.  The  representation  on 
Munk's  map  is,  therefore,  much  too  large;  but  similar  exaggerations 
occur  elsewhere  on  Munk's  map,  where  localities  are  represented 
which  he  has  especially  noticed.  As  the  figures  just  quoted 
show,  the  eastern  limit  of  this  portion  of  the  coast  is  placed 
one  deg.  and  25  min.  too  far  east;  but,  as  compared  with  Cape 
Hope's  Advance,  the  eastern  displacement  of  the  whole  coast  is 
here  reduced  by  nearly  two  and  a  half  degrees.  This  is  mainly 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  coastline  between  the  two  last-mentioned 
points  is  laid  down  on  Munk's  map  in  its  full  length  and  straight  : 
whereas  in  reality  it  forms  two  bays,  one  of  which  recedes  as  much 
as  20  miles ;  at  the  same  time  the  direction  of  the  coast  on  the 
map  is  almost  due  east  and  west  (with  a  rise  in  latitude  of  only 
30  min.),  instead  of  north-west  (with  a  rise  in  latitude  of  about 
one  degree).  This  is  particularly  noticeable  just  east  of  Sydemes, 
between  it  and  an  inlet  which  is  clearly  marked  on  Munk's  map, 
one  deg.  and  20  min.  to  the  east  of  Sydemes,  and  at  the  same  time 
20  min.  to  the  south  of  it;  whilst  on  the  Admiralty  Chart  the 
corresponding  inlet  is  shown  only  30  min.  to  the  east,  but  at  the 
same  time  30  min.  to  to  the  south  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island. 
On  Gerritsz.'s  map  "  The  King's  Foreland",  which  in  our  opinion 
corresponds  to  Sydemes,  is  in  about  long.  740  west  of  Greenwich. 

As  we  have  already  stated,  Munk's  Iisver,  which  we  identify 
with  Charles  Island,  are,  like  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  not  dis- 
tinguished on  his  map  from  the  mainland  (close  to  which  he  says 


MUNK'S   MAP.  159 

that  they  are  situated),  but  appear  merely  as  a  projection  of  it. 
The  name  of  Iisver,  on  Munk's  map,  is  placed  alongside  the 
coast,  near  the  western  entrance  of  Hudson's- Strait,  without  dis- 
tinctly referring  to  any  special  part  of  it ;  but,  on  the  supposition 
that  Munk's  Iisver  is  Charles  Island,  there  is,  we  believe,  no  diffi- 
culty in  recognising  the  particular  part  of  the  coast  which  repre- 
sents Iisver.  About  three  degrees  of  longitude  inside  the  western 
entrance  of  the  Strait,  the  coast,  on  the  south  side,  exhibits  a 
rather  sharp  salient  point,  which  in  appearance  and  position 
corresponds  so  closely  to  the  northernmost  point  of  Charles 
Island,  that  we  can  have  no  hesitation  in  identifying  it  with  the 
latter.  They  stand,  within  a  few  minutes,  in  the  same  longitude, 
vis.,  about  750  west  of  Greenwich  ;  and,  like  the  northern  head- 
land of  Charles  Island,  the  promontory  shown  on  the  map  is 
flanked  by  a  shallow  bay  on  either  side,  with  which  it  forms 
a  coast  line  resembling  very  much  that  of  the  north  coast 
of  Charles  Island,  and  of  not  much  greater  extent  from  east  to 
west.  To  the  west  of  this  piece  of  coast,  in  long.  75°  40',  accord- 
ing to  our  scale,  we  observe,  on  Munk's  map,  a  well-defined  deep 
bay,  which  we  take  to  represent  the  western  entrance  of  the 
channel  between  Charles  Island  and  the  main  land,  which  we 
believe  to  have  been  omitted  by  the  fault  of  the  draughtsman 
who  reduced  the  map  for  publication.  East  of  the  same  piece 
of  coast  on  Munk's  map,  a  slight  but  unmistakeable  indentation 
or  bend  of  the  coastline  indicates,  in  our  view,  the  position  of 
the  eastern  entrance  of  the  channel  in  question,  and  is  situated 
in  the  same  longitude  as  the  latter,  vis.,  about  74?.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  if  this  piece  of  coast  really  represents  Charles  Island, 
it  is  very  nearly  in  the  right  position  as  regards  longitude. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  coastline  between  the  two  points  which 
we  take  for  the  west  end  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  the  east 
end  of  Charles  Island,  is  drawn  so  much  too  long  that  the 
gradually  diminishing  easterly  displacement  which  we  have  noticed 
in  other  places  lower  down  the  Strait  has  here  altogether  dis- 
appeared. The  oftmentioned  piece  of  coast  which  represents 
Charles  Island  reaches,  in  fact,  a  little  too  far  west ;  as,  however, 
the  remainder  of  the  south  coast  of  Hudson's  Strait  is  drawn 
as  much  too  short,  the  result  is  that  the  westernmost  point  of  it 
on  Munk's  map  (which  in  our  opinion  really  represents  the 
westernmost  point  of  the  Digges  Islands)  is,  according  to  the 


l6o  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

scale  we  have  applied,  nearly  33  deg.  and  10  min.  west  of  Cape 
Farewell  (or,  more  precisely,  the  meridian  of  44°),  corresponding 
nearly  to  long.  78°  io'  west  of  Greenwich,  which  is  correct.  On 
Gerritsz.'s  map  this  point  is  in  long.  30 1°,  equal  to  840  10'  west 
of  Greenwich. 

The  whole  southern  coast  of  Hudson's  Strait  is  on  Munk's  map 
placed  too  low  in  point  of  latitude,  but  not  uniformly  so.  The 
northern  extremity  of  Labrador  is  35  min.,  the  Cape  of  Hope's 
Advance  about  one  degree,  Sydernes  one  deg.  and  35  min.,  and 
the  extreme  point  to  the  west  one  deg.  and  30  min.,  too  far 
south.  This  is  not  very  surprising  when  it  is  remembered  that 
Munk  only  sailed  along  the  coast  from  east  to  west,  and  vice  versa, 
without  landing  and  observing  anywhere.  The  only  point  with 
regard  to  which  he  was  in  such  a  position  that  he  could  obtain  the 
latitude  of  it  is  A/fcenes,  the  east  end  of  Akpatok,  which  the  text 
places  correctly  in  lat.  6o°,  but  which  on  the  map  is  quite  30  min. 
further  south;  probably  owing— at  any  rate  in  a  measure — to  its 
being  represented  as  pointing  to  the  south-east  instead  of  the 
north-east. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Munk  borrowed  any  detail  from  Hessel 
Gerritsz.  as  regards  the  western  half  of  the  south  coast  of 
Hudson's  Strait.  The  general  north-west  trend  of  the  coast  west 
of  Cape  Hope's  Advance,  and  the  configuration  of  the  two  wide 
bays  between  that  promontory  and  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  and 
between  the  latter  and  Charles  Island,  are  better  represented  on 
Gerritsz.'s  map,  on  which  also  the  latitudes,  upon  the  whole,  are 
more  correctly  given.  But  it  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing 
that  Munk's  representation  in  several  places  bears  evidence  of 
much  more  careful  examination  of  the  coast,  so  as  to  render 
posible  a  very  detailed  comparison  with  modern  maps.  On 
Gerritsz.'s  map,  as  on  Munk's,  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  Charles 
Island  are  not  represented  as  islands,  but  as  portions  of  the 
coast  close  to  which  they  are  situated.  The  Digges  Islands,  how- 
ever, are  drawn  as  islands  on  Gerritsz.'s  map. 

Concerning  Munk's  representation  of  the  northern  shore  of 
Hudson's  Strait,  to  which  we  must  now  turn  our  attention,  we 
may  first  note  that  it  agrees  with  that  on  modern  maps  in  so  far 
that  the  coast  trends  north-west  for  some  distance  inside  the 
entrance,  after  which  it  assumes  a  westerly  direction :  a  feature 
which  is  not  shown  on  Gerritsz.'s  map.     Like  the  corresponding 


munk's  map.  161 

part  of  the  southern  shore  of  the  Strait,  this  part  of  the  northern 
shore  is  drawn  too  long,  but  the  error  in  the  longitude  of  the 
entrance  diminishes  gradually,  though  not  evenly,  towards  the 
west.  Cape  Resolution  stands  on  Munk's  map,  as  it  ought  to, 
almost  exactly  north  of  the  northernmost  point  of  Labrador,  and 
is  like  the  latter  misplaced,  7  deg.  10  min.  too  far  east;  but 
Munkenes  is  only  six  degrees  too  far  east,  viz.,  in  long.  590  instead 
of  65  °,  being  fully  one  degree  too  far  west  of  Cape  Resolution. 
The  point  where  the  coast,  as  just  mentioned,  turns  westwards 
is  not  very  sharply  defined,  but  it  is  shown  on  Munk's  map  about 
18  deg.  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  or  in  about  long.  620,  whilst  the 
true  longitude  is  about  670  30',  so  that  the  initial  displacement  of 
the  coast  towards  the  east  is  at  this  point  reduced  from  7  deg.  to 
5  J  deg.  Partly  on  account  of  the  coastline  being  thus  unduly 
lengthened,  partly  because  Munkenes  is  placed  in  lat.  6i°  30' 
instead  of  lat.  6i°  20'  (as  stated  in  the  text),  this  lower  portion  of 
the  north  coast  appears  to  trend  west-north-west  instead  of  due 
north-west.  The  principal  defect  of  this  part  of  Munk's  map  is 
that  the  southern  entrance  to  Gabriel  Sound  is  only  indicated 
by  a  small  bay.  This  is  remarkable,  not  only  because  it  is  clearly 
indicated  as  an  inlet  on  Gerritsz.'s  map,  but  because  Munk 
remained  a  whole  day  close  to  Resolution  Island,  and  the  opening 
of  Gabriel  Sound  is  too  wide  to  be  easily  overlooked.  As,  how- 
ever, we  read  in  his  account  that  they  were  much  distressed  at 
that  time  by  the  weather  and  the  ice,  this  may  account  for  Munk 
not  having  obtained  sufficiently  accurate  material  for  his  map. 

From  the  bend  of  the  coastline  above  mentioned,  the  latter 
trends  westwards :  on  modern  maps  a  little  to  the  north,  on  Munk's 
map  due  west.  On  this  part  of  the  coast,  as  represented  by  him, 
we  notice  two  deep  inlets,  one  not  far  from  the  bend,  the  other 
fully  two  degrees  farther  west.  Between  them  the  name  Harsont, 
which  of  course  is  meant  for  Haresund,  is  inserted  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  may  apply  equally  well  to  either  of  these  inlets,  or 
to  some  point  on  the  coast  between  them.  The  name,  Rensund 
(of  course  the  same  as  Rinsund,  and  in  fact  more  correctly  spelt 
than  the  latter)  is  inserted  a  long  way  to  the  east  of  these  inlets, 
pointing  to  a  place  on  the  coast  where  the  ships  are  represented 
lying  close  to  land.  As  it  appears  from  the  narrative  that 
Haresund  was  an  inlet,  and  the  last  place  of  that  kind  visited  on 
the  north  coast,  it  is  most  probable  that  the  name  on  the  map 

11 


1 62  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

is  intended  for  the  westernmost  of  the  two  inlets  in  question,  and 
it  remains  to  decide  what  is  represented  by  the  other.  At  first, 
one  might  perhaps  be  tempted  to  take  it  for  the  southern  entrance 
of  Gabriel  Sound — of  course  very  much  displaced ;  but  this 
view  is  not  tenable,  because  in  that  case  the  name  of  Rinsund 
(which  certainly  did  not  apply  to  any  place  on  Resolution  Island) 
would  have  been  placed  west  of  the  inlet  on  the  map,  whereas 
it  stands  well  to  the  east  of  it.  Nor  is  it  probable  that  the 
inlet  in  question  is  meant  for  Rinsund  itself.  As  we  have 
mentioned  above  (see  p.  82),  Munk's  statements  about  their  stay 
at  Rinsund  point  to  its  being  a  sound  between  the  mainland  and 
some  islands,  rather  than  an  inlet  from  the  sea ;  and  this  view  is 
corroborated  by  the  representation  on  the  woodcut  facing  p.  14, 
which  seems  to  illustrate  this  part  of  the  map.  The  two  streams 
shown  on  the  woodcut  correspond  most  likely  to  the  two  inlets 
shown  on  the  map ;  and,  just  as  on  the  latter,  the  ships  are  repre- 
sented lying  close  to  the  shore  at  the  point  against  which  the 
name  of  Rinsund  is  placed,  east  of  the  easternmost  inlet,  so,  on 
the  woodcut,  the  ships  are  represented  lying  east  of  the  eastern- 
most stream,  close  to  the  shore,  inside  some  islands.  We  there- 
fore consider  it  probable  that  the  easternmost  of  the  inlets  on  the 
map  is  intended  for  some  locality  of  that  kind,  which  Munk's 
party  may  have  seen  on  their  excursions  from  Rinsund^  but  which 
is  not  mentioned  in  Munk's  narrative.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  bay 
or  short  inlet  similar  to  Icy  Cove  is  found  in  this  neighbourhood 
opposite  the  Middle  Savage  Islands,  just  west  of  the  bend  of  the 
coastline  above  alluded  to,  which  on  the  Admiralty  Chart  is 
named  Jackman's  Sound ;  and  we  consider  it  most  probable  that 
it  is  this  bay  which  is  represented  by  the  easternmost  stream  or 
inlet  on  the  woodcut  and  the  map.  We  believe,  accordingly, 
that  Rinsund  was  a  narrow  sound  between  the  mainland  and 
some  small  islands  close  to  the  shore,  not  far  east  of  Jackman's 
Sound  :  which,  however,  cannot  be  identified  more  accurately 
without  a  more  detailed  knowledge  of  the  coast  than  we  possess. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  if  these  two  inlets  on  the  map  represent 
Icy  Cove  and  Jackman's  Sound  respectively,  they  are  drawn  out 
of  all  proportion  large ;  there  are,  in  fact,  no  inlets  at  all  on  this 
coast  of  a  size  corresponding  to  the  representation  on  Munk's 
map.  The  distance  between  the  two  inlets,  likewise,  is  four  times 
the  real  distance  between  Icy  Cove  and  Jackman's  Sound.     This, 


munk's  map.  163 

however,  is  only  another  instance  of  the  exaggeration  which  we 
have  noticed  before  in  the  drawing  of  localities  which  Munk  had 
specially  explored.  Another  instance  of  the  same  is  afforded  by 
the  representation  of  two  islands  outside  Haresund,  which  prob- 
ably are  meant  for  the  rocky  islets  where  they  were  hard  pressed 
by  the  ice  before  they  found  a  refuge  in  that  harbour  (see  p.  17). 

If  Haresund  is  Icy  Cove,  as  we  suppose,  it  is  in  some  respects 
not  much  out  of  its  proper  place  on  Munk's  map.  We  may  note 
particularly  that  its  position,  compared  with  Cape  Hope's 
Advance,  accords  well  with  our  view  of  their  movements  in 
Hudson's  Strait.  By  the  scale  which  we  apply  to  Munk's  map, 
the  western  shoulder  of  Haresund  stands  21  deg.  and  30  min. 
west  of  Cape  Farewell,  or  in  long.  65 °  30'  west  of  Greenwich, 
whereas  the  true  longitude  of  Icy  Cove  is  68°  30'.  If,  there- 
fore, our  identification  is  correct,  Haresund  is  only  three  deg. 
too  far  to  the  east,  whilst  the  easterly  displacement  at  the  oft- 
mentioned  bend  of  the  coast  amounts  to  five  and  a  half  degrees. 
This  diminution  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that  on  Munk's  map 
the  two  inlets  of  which  we  have  just  been  treating,  with  the  coast 
between  them,  cover  three  degrees  of  longitude,  whilst  Jackman's 
Sound  and  Icy  Cove,  with  the  intervening  coast,  only  occupy 
45  min.  It  may  be  noted  that  neither  of  the  two  inlets  appears 
on  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map.  Munk  states  the  latitude  of  two 
points  on  this  part  of  the  coast  viz.,  Munkeness,  which  in  the 
text  he  places  correctly  in  lat.  6i°  20',  but  on  the  map  reaches 
no  further  south  than  6i°  30',  and  Haresund,  the  entrance  of 
which  is  placed  on  the  map  in  lat.  620  20',  which  is  the  latitude 
stated  in  the  text,  and  also  the  true  latitude  of  Icy  Cove. 

Munk's  representation  of  the  northern  shore  of  Hudson's 
Strait,  immediately  west  of  Haresund,  is  very  faulty.  In  reality 
the  coastline  turns  northwards  into  North  Bay,  at  a  point  which 
does  not  seem  to  be  as  yet  accurately  determined,  but  which  is 
certainly  situated  within  30  min.  west  of  Icy  Cove,  and  the 
distance  from  Icy  Cove  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Big  Island, 
which  bounds  the  north  bay  on  the  western  side,  covers  only 
one  deg.  and  50  min.  ;  but  on  Munk's  map  the  coastline  is  con- 
tinued west  of  Haresund  through  four  deg.  of  longitude  before  it 
turns  northwards,  and  the  distance  from  this  turning-point  to  his 
Koldenes,  which  no  doubt  represents  the  southern  extremity  of 
Big  Island,  is  on  his  map  equal  to  four  deg.  of  longitude ;  making 

11  2 


164         DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

the  total  difference  in  longitude  between  that  point  and  Haresnnd 
eight  deg.,  or  six  deg.  and  10  min.  more  than  the  real  difference 
between  Big  Island  and  Icy  Cove.  Moreover,  whereas  the  coast 
in  North  Bay  recedes  only  30  to  35  miles,  Munk's  map  shows 
a  great  waterway  branching  off  from  Hudson's  Strait  east  of 
Koldenes,  and  continued  in  a  north-easterly  direction  for  about 
250  miles,  ending  blind  near  the  head  of  Cumberland  Inlet.  As 
regards  the  excessive  width  of  the  opening,  which  represents  the 
entrance  of  North  Bay,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  how  Munk 
may  have  fallen  into  error.  It  appears  from  his  narrative  that, 
when  he  left  Haresund  on  the  outward  voyage,  he  did  not  cross 
North  Bay,  but  was  carried  over  to  the  southern  coast  of  Hudson's 
Strait,  and  when  he  passed  Big  Island  on  his  return  from  Ungava 
Bay  the  island  was  not  visible  on  account  of  fog.  He  must  have 
seen  Big  Island  on  the  homeward  voyage,  since  he  has  named  it ; 
but  he  may  not  on  that  occasion  have  seen  the  coast  about  Icy 
Cove ;  and  he  may,  therefore,  very  well  have  been  in  uncertainty 
about  the  distance  between  these  two  points.  Far  more  difficult  is 
it  to  account  for  the  long  piece  of  coast  intervening  between  Hare- 
sund and  North  Bay,  because  in  the  text  Munk  says  expressly  that 
the  great  bay  to  the  west  of  Haresund  was  close  to  it ;  nor  is  there 
anything  in  the  text  indicating  that  Munk  looked  upon  the  bay  in 
question  as  connected  with  such  a  great  waterway  stretching  far 
towards  the  north-east,  as  is  shown  on  the  map.  For  an  explana- 
tion we  seem  to  be  thrown  back  on  the  supposition  that  Munk 
himself  was  not  wholly  responsible  for  the  map,  except  as  regards 
parts  which  he  had  examined  himself,  but  that  the  drawing  of 
other  parts  was  left  more  or  less  to  a  different  hand.  The  repre- 
sentation in  question  on  Munk's  map  is  evidently  conjectural, 
and  may  possibly  be  derived  from  Best's  map,  or  be  connected 
with  the  fact  that  on  Gerritsz.'s  map  a  similar  great  strait  is  shown 
farther  west,  though,  on  the  latter,  North  Bay  is  indicated  pretty 
accurately. 

Whatever  may  be  the  true  explanation  of  the  error  just  dis- 
cussed, it  had  the  effect  of  causing  Big  Island,  the  southern 
extremity  of  which  is  represented  by  Munk's  Koldenes,  to  be  very 
much  displaced  towards  the  west.  The  difference  in  longitude 
between  Koldenes  and  Haresund  is  on  Munk's  map  over  eight  deg., 
whilst  the  true  difference  between  Big  Island  and  Icy  Cove  is 
only  one  deg.  and  50  min.     As,  however,  Haresund — if  it  be  Icy 


MUNK'S    MAP.  165 

Cove — is  placed  three  deg.  too  far  east  on  Munk's  map,  the  result  is 
that  Koldenes  is  placed  3  deg.  and  20  min.  too  far  west.  Accord- 
ing to  the  scale  we  apply  to  Munk's  map,  the  longitude  of  Koldenes 
corresponds  to  about  730  50'  west  of  Greenwich,  whilst  the 
southernmost  point  of  Big  Island  is  in  70°  30'  west  of  Greenwich. 
Apart  from  this  error,  the  west  coast  of  Big  Island  and  Meta 
Incognita  is  evidently  laid  down  from  actual  observation.  Kol- 
denes is  in  lat.  62 °  15',  only  15  min.  too  southerly  for  the  southern 
extremity  of  Big  Island.  About  20  min.  further  north-west,  a 
small  bay  seems  to  indicate  the  entrance  of  White  Strait.  Another, 
larger,  bay  to  the  north  of  this  is  drawn  too  deep,  but  a  marked 
projection  of  the  land  between  lat.  630  10'  and  630  30',  bounded 
by  a  small  bay  to  the  north  of  it,  corresponds  evidently  to  Fair 
Ness,  which  is  really  but  little  farther  north,  and  presents  quite 
a  similar  configuration.  Munk  says  that  he  proceeded  in  this 
direction  as  far  as  lat.  630  20'  before  he  changed  his  course  to  a 
south-westerly  one  for  Hudson's  Bay,  and  we  have  laid  down  his 
course  accordingly  on  the  track  chart.  To  judge,  however,  from 
his  map,  he  must  have  been  far  enough  to  gain  a  fairly  true 
impression  of  the  coastline  as  far  as  the  land  near  King  Charles 
Cape,  with  which  we  identify  a  projection  of  land  pointing  south 
in  long.  790  to  79°  30',  and  lat.  640  40'.  On  this  supposition, 
the  place  assigned  to  it  by  Munk  is  much  too  westerly  (though 
not  more  than  is  the  case  with  the  whole  of  this  coast),  but  is 
only  about  25  min.  too  northerly.  The  direction  of  the  coastline 
as  far  as  Fair  Ness  is  on  Munk's  map  fairly  correct,  being  only 
one  point  too  northerly. 

As  we  shall  see,  this  westerly  displacement  of  the  north  coast 
is  maintained  (though  somewhat  diminished)  all  through,  as  far 
as  the  north-west  corner  of  Hudson's  Bay ;  from  which  we  may 
perhaps  conclude  that  the  map  was  originally  nearly  correct  in  this 
respect,  and  that,  either  by  an  error  in  the  reduction  or  engraving, 
or  by  the  interference  of  some  person  who  imagined  that  he  could 
improve  upon  Munk's  drawing,  the  whole  of  this  part  of  the  map 
was  shifted  westwards.  The  latter  supposition  is  by  far  the  more 
probable  one  ;  because,  if  we  mistake  not,  it  is  due  to  this  dis- 
placement of  the  north  coast  that  the  south  coast  of  Hudson's 
Strait  is  shown  in  a  wrong  latitude,  particularly  from  Cape  Hope's 
Advance  to  Cape  Wolstenholme.  The  north-east  point  of  Charles 
Island  is  really  in  lat.  620  55',  and  that  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island 


1 66  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

in  lat.  620  12',  whilst  Koldejies,  the  south  point  of  Big  Island,  is 
in  lat.  6 20  30' ;  at  the  same  time  the  difference  in  longitude  be- 
tween the  latter  point  and  the  eastern  extremity  of  Charles  Island 
is  only  three  deg.  30  min.  From  this  it  follows  that  if  Koldenes  and 
the  west  coast  of  Meta  Incognita  are  laid  down  more  than  three  deg. 
too  far  west,  but  in  the  proper  latitude,  Hudson's  Strait  would 
be  reduced  to  a  very  narrow  channel  indeed,  or  even  appear  to 
be  closed  up  altogether.  It  is  very  likely,  in  order  to  avoid  this, 
that  the  south  coast  of  the  Strait  has  been  brought  down  more 
than  one  degree  below  its  proper  latitude  (s.  p.  160). 

In  the  next  place  we  must   turn  our  attention  to  the  islands 
situated  in  the  western  opening  of  Hudson's  Strait,  and  the  first 
we  come  to  are  Salisbury  and  Nottingham  Islands.    On  Gerritsz.'s 
map  only  one  island  is   shown   in  their  place,   which  is  named 
Salisbury  Island,  but  seems  rather  to  be  meant  for  Nottingham 
Island,  which  is   nearest  to  Hudson's  track,  unless  it  stands  for 
both  of  them.      Munk's   map  is   the  earliest  published  map   on 
which  they  are  both  shown,  but  the  representation  of  them  is  not 
accurate :  the  more  northerly  one,  which  must  be  meant  for  Salis- 
bury Island,  is  placed  north-west  instead  of  north-east  of  the  more 
southerly  one,   which   must  be  intended  for  Nottingham  Island 
Moreover,  they  are  drawn  too  small,  and  in  a  wrong  position  both 
as  regards  latitude  and  longitude.     The  islands  are  really  situated 
between  lat.  63°  10'  and  630  50',  but  appear  on  Munk's  map  be- 
tween lat.  620  20'  and  620  45'.     As  regards  longitude  they  appear 
at  first  sight  most  extraordinarily  misplaced,  being  close  to  the  west 
coast  of  Meta  Incognita  ;  but  this  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  above 
discussed,  that  the  coast  in  question  is  laid  down  on  the  map  fully 
three  degrees  too  far  west.    The  islands  themselves  are,  therefore, 
not  so  much  displaced  as  might  be  thought  at  first  sight.    Whilst 
the    easternmost  point  of  Salisbury  Island  is   in  long.   7  6°  30', 
the  easternmost  island  on  Munk's  map   is   no  farther  east  than 
about   75°.      In   explanation  of   these   islands  being  shown    on 
Munk's  map  out  of  their  proper  place,  we  need  not  add  anything 
to  what  we  have  stated  on  p.  99. 

Concerning  the  representation  of  Digges  Islands  on  Munk's 
map,  we  may  refer  to  what  has  been  mentioned  on  pp.  98-99. 
On  the  original  map  they  must  have  been  marked  as  islands; 
and  that  they  appear  merged  in  the  mainland  on  the  re- 
production   of  the  map   in   Munk's   book   is  doubtless  due  to 


munk's  map.  167 

the  small  size  of  the  latter,  combined  with  the  clumsiness  of  its 
execution. 

In  examining  Munk's  representation  of  Hudson's  Bay,  we  need 
not  bestow  much  attention  on  the  eastern  coast  or  James's  Bay, 
which  were  not  visited  by  Munk,  or  anybody  of  his  party,  and 
the  detail  of  which  he  must,  consequently,  have  borrowed  from 
Hessel  Gerritsz.,  though  they  are  rendered  with  not  a  little  free- 
dom. It  should  be  noticed,  however,  that  whilst  on  Gerritsz. 's 
map  the  east  coast  of  the  Bay  is  placed  about  six  degrees  too  far 
west,  on  account  of  the  excessive  length  given  to  Hudson's  Strait 
(see  p.  154),  the  coast  in  question  appears  on  Munk's  map  in  its 
proper  longitude.  The  point  corresponding  to  the  extreme  western 
limit  of  Hudson's  exploration  (Cape  Henrietta  Maria)  is,  however, 
on  Munk's  map,  placed  in  about  the  same  distance  west  of  the  east 
coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  as  on  Gerritsz.'s  map,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  width  of  James's  Bay  is  nearly  the  same  on  both  maps. 

Mansfield  Island  is  shown  on  both  maps,  but  Munk  has  no 
doubt  drawn  it  from  his  own  observations,  though  not  more  cor- 
rectly. On  his  map  it  appears  broader  and  shorter,  and  situated 
between  lat.  6o°  50'  and  620,  whilst  on  Gerritsz.'s  map  it  is  placed 
between  lat.  6o°  40'  and  620  50'.  As  the  real  position  is  between 
6i°  35'  and  620  38',  it  will  be  seen  that  Munk  gives  the  extension 
from  north  to  south  pretty  accurately,  but  places  the  whole  island 
half  a  degree  too  southerly.  On  Gerritsz.'s  map  the  meridian 
of  3000  east  of  St.  Miguel  (85°  10'  west  of  Greenwich),  passes 
through  the  middle  of  the  island  (which  on  that  map  bears  no 
name),  whilst  Digges  Islands  are  in  long.  30 1°.  On  Munk's  map 
a  meridian  so  drawn  would  be  36  deg.  10  min.  west  of  Cape 
Farewell,  about  two  deg.  west  of  Digges  Islands,  corresponding 
to  long.  8o°  io'  west  of  Greenwich,  which  is  the  true  longitude. 

As  regards  the  remainder  of  Hudson's  Bay,  we  cannot  compare 
Munk's  map  to  any  other  previously  published,  because  none 
such  exists.  Munk's  map  of  these  parts  is,  as  far  as  we  know, 
entirely  original. 

Munk,  it  will  be  remembered,  sailed  straight  across  Hudson's 
Bay  to  Port  Churchill,  which  point,  therefore,  next  claims  our 
attention.  As  he  appears  to  have  kept  a  pretty  direct  course,  he 
would  have  the  means  for  a  very  fair  computation  of  the  longi- 
tudinal difference  between  the  Digges  Islands  and  the  west  coast 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  the  map  shows  that  he  succeeded  very  well 


168  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

in    computing   it.      The   west    coast    of  Hudson's  Bay,   at  the 
bottom  of  Churchill  Bay  is,  according  to  our  scale,  50  deg.  30  min. 
west  of  Cape  Farewell  on  Munk's  map,  which  corresponds  to  long. 
940  30'  west  of  Greenwich  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  only  30  min.  too  far 
east.      Port  Churchill  itself  appears  much  displaced,  the  opening 
being   between  47   deg.  30  min.  and  48  deg.  30  min.  west  of 
Cape   Farewell,  and  so  wide    as  to    occupy  nearly  one  degree. 
These  figures  correspond  to  910  30'   and  920  30'  west  of  Green- 
wich, whilst  in  reality  the  opening  lies  in  about  94°  15'.     This, 
however,  is  obviously  caused  by  the  inner  portion  of  the  southern 
coast  of  Churchill  Bay  being  greatly  lengthened,  so  as  to  make  room 
for  a  disproportionately  large  representation  of  the  harbour  and  its 
vicinity.     The   outline  of  the   coast   near   the  harbour  is  drawn 
sufficiently  large  to    reproduce  the   configuration    shown  in  the 
bird's-eye-view  of  the  harbour  on  the  second  woodcut  (facing  p. 
23),  which  could  not  possibly  have  been  done  without  departing 
greatly  from   the  general   scale  of  the  map.     We  have  already 
noticed  similar  exaggerated  representations  of  particular  localities 
in  other  parts  of  the  map.     Munk,  doubtless,  had  this  done  in 
order  to  show  unmistakably  where  the  harbour  was,  and  to  facili- 
tate the  finding  of  it ;  but,  of  course,  this  part  of  his  map  is  spoilt 
by  it,  as  this  portion  of  the  coast  occupies  about  three  deg.  in 
longitude,  instead  of  about  50  min. 

Between  Cape  Merry,  which  bounds  the  entrance  to  Port 
Churchill  on  the  east  side,  and  Cape  Churchill,  the  coast  is  simi- 
larly lengthened,  showing  the  shallow  bay  between  them.  As  the 
distance  between  the  two  points  mentioned  on  Munk's  map  covers 
one  deg.  10  min.  instead  of  55  min.,  the  result  is  that  Cape 
Churchill  is  about  46  deg.  10  min.  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  cor- 
responding to  900  10'  west  of  Greenwich,  whereas  that  promontory 
really  lies  in  long.  930  15'.  The  coast  from  thence  southwards  to 
Port  Nelson  is  consequently  displaced  eastwards  to  the  same  extent. 
The  latitude  of  Port  Churchill  is  not  mentioned  in  Munk's 
text,  but  on  his  map  the  entrance  of  it  is  placed  in  about  lat. 
5 8°  50'  to  55',  only  a  few  minutes  below  the  correct  figure.  It 
may  be  noticed  that,  on  the  map,  the  opening  of  Port  Churchill 
faces  north,  a  little  to  the  west,  whilst  in  reality  it  faces  north- 
east, as  shown  on  the  woodcut. 

According  to  Munk's  narrative,  he  did  not  himself  make  any 
exploring  expeditions  along  the  coast,  either  to  the  north  or  to 


munk's  map.  169 

the  south  of  Port  Churchill,  while  he  was  there ;  but  he  must  have 
seen  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  both  in  coming  to  and  leaving 
the  harbour,  particularly  on  the  latter  occasion,  when  he  spent 
several  days  sailing  on  both  sides  of  the  harbour,  in  order  to  double 
or  penetrate  the  belt  of  ice  which  held  him  prisoner  between  it  and 
the  land.  As  regards  the  coast  east  and  south  of  Port  Churchill, 
which  we  will  consider  first,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  how  far 
he  went ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  he  ever  came  within 
sight  of  Nelson  River,  or  the  bay  in  which  it  discharges.  Never- 
theless, the  bay  and  the  river  are  unmistakeably  laid  down  on  his 
map.  An  explanation  of  this  remarkable  fact  may,  perhaps,  be 
found  in  Munk's  statement  that  Hans  Brock,  the  Danish  mate  on 
board  Enhiorningen,  was  sent  out  on  Sept.  13th,  16 19,  in  order 
to  explore  the  coast  southwards  of  Port  Churchill,  but  only  re- 
turned on  Sept.  23rd.  It  is  true  that  he  was  not  ordered  to 
proceed  further  than  nine  miles  Danish,  which  would  be  only  one- 
third  of  the  distance  to  Port  Nelson,  and  also  that  he  was  only  in 
an  open  boat.  But  it  is  difficult  to  understand  what  he  can  have 
been  doing  all  that  time,  if  he  had  not  gone  further.  It  is,  there- 
fore, probable  that  he  advanced  far  enough  along  the  coast  to 
have  a  sight  of  the  bay,  if  not  actually  to  explore  it.  If  so,  he 
must  be  supposed  to  have  reported  his  observations  to  Munk. 
If,  furthermore,  as  we  think  not  unlikely,  Watson  had  been  with 
Button  when  he  wintered  at  Port  Nelson  in  161 2-13,  Munk  may 
have  learnt  from  him  various  particulars,  by  means  of  which  he 
may  have  been  able  to  identify  the  place  of  which  Brock  reported 
with  the  place  of  which  Watson  had  told  him  ;  and  the  represen- 
tation of  these  parts  on  Munk's  map  may  be  the  result  of  a  com- 
bination of  these  reports.  At  the  same  time,  if  Munk  was  directed 
to  make  for  the  place  where  Button  had  wintered  (which  we  con- 
sider not  improbable)  he  may  have  been  supplied  with  some 
information  concerning  the  configuration  of  the  land  near  Port 
Nelson.  In  any  case,  the  information  he  received  was  not  very 
complete,  as,  on  his  map,  Port  Nelson  stands  fully  two  degrees  too 
low  in  point  of  latitude.  As  regards  the  direction  of  the  coast 
beyond  Port  Nelson,  it  is  evident  that  Munk  was  informed  that  it 
trended  north-east,  but  not  that  this  direction  was  maintained  only 
for  about  fifty  miles,  after  which,  at  Cape  Tatnam,  it  turns  south- 
wards again,  as  it  does  at  Cape  Churchill.  Thus,  no  doubt,  it 
came  about  that  Munk  filled  up  the  still  unexplored  part  of  the 


170  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  by  continuing  the  coastline  from  the 
mouth  of  Nelson  River  in  a  north-easterly  direction,  far  enough 
to  meet  the  extreme  point  reached  by  Hudson  (Cape  Henrietta 
Maria),  as  shown  on  Gerritsz.'s  map.  According  to  Hessel 
Gerritsz.  this  point  was  in  lat.  6o°,  and  the  result  of  Munk 
resorting  to  the  expedient  indicated  was  the  appearance  on  Munk's 
map  of  an  enormous  projection  of  land  filling  up  the  south- 
western part  of  the  bay.  Owing  to  the  fact,  already  mentioned, 
that  Port  Nelson  is  placed  fully  two  degrees  too  far  south,  the  bay 
at  the  head  of  which  it  is  situated  is  converted  into  a  very  deep 
funnel-shaped  inlet,  in  consequence  of  which  the  projection  of 
land  in  question  appears  to  encroach  on  Hudson's  Bay  even  more 
than  would  otherwise  be  the  case.  This  projection  of  land  is 
quite  fictitious.  Cape  Henrietta  Maria  is  not  situated  farther 
north  than  lat.  550  10',  and  the  coastline  which  connects  it  with 
Cape  Tatnam,  near  Nelson  River,  is  so  far  from  forming  a 
projection  of  land,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  curves  gently  round  in 
a  south-easterly  direction  forming  a  very  flat  bay.  With  the  infor- 
formation  Munk  possessed,  it  was  very  natural  for  him  to  fill 
up  the  gap  between  the  points  mentioned  in  the  manner  adopted 
by  him ;  and  the  unsatisfactory  result  was  due  to  his  having  been 
misled  by  Gerritsz.  as  to  the  latitude  of  Cape  Henrietta  Maria, 
and  to  his  not  knowing  at  wrhat  distance  east  of  Nelson  River  the 
coast  resumed  its  southerly  direction.  The  configuration  of  this 
projecting  piece  of  land  is,  of  course,  quite  conjectural,  and  we 
cannot  account  for  the  detail  of  it.  More  particularly  is  this  the 
case  with  regard  to  the  large  island  shown  close  to  the  north  of 
it,  and  which  should  perhaps  be  looked  upon  as  forming  the 
northern  portion  of  it,  because  it  is  this  island  which  approaches 
to  the  latitude  of  6o°,  which  Hessel  Gerritsz.  ascribes  to  Cape 
Henrietta  Maria.  It  seems  that  in  order  to  make  the  western 
coast  of  James  Bay  meet  his  coastline  east  of  Port  Nelson,  Munk 
altered  the  former;  but  as  the  whole  of  this  representation  is  con- 
jectural, it  is  not  worth  further  consideration. 

With  regard  to  the  coast  north  of  Port  Churchill  the  case  stands 
differently.  Munk,  no  doubt,  sailed  along  this  coast  for  some 
distance  on  his  homeward  voyage,  but,  as  he  took  a  north-easterly 
course  for  Hudson's  Strait  when  he  was  able  to  leave  the  coast,  he 
cannot  have  been  farther  north  than  lat.  6i°,  if  indeed  so  far. 
Nevertheless,    the    representation  on   Munk's  map  of  the  coast 


MUNKS    MAP.  171 

north  of  that  latitude  shows,  in  several  respects,  such  a  remark- 
able agreement  with  its  real  configuration,  that  it  must  have  been 
laid  down  from  actual  observation.  Nor  would  it  suffice,  with 
regard  to  this,  to  fall  back  on  the  supposition  that  Munk  had 
received  information,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  persons  who  had 
been  with  Button's  expedition.  The  manner  in  which  Port 
Nelson  is  marked  on  Munk's  map  agrees  so  far  with  what  we  find 
on  Briggs's  map,  that  it  would  not  be  unreasonable  to  conclude 
that  they  had  their  information  from  the  same  source ;  but  Munk's 
map  of  the  west  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  exhibits  important  features 
of  which  nothing  is  to  be  seen  on  Briggs'  map.  From  this  we 
conclude  that  Munk  had  special  and  more  direct  information  ; 
nor  is  there  any  difficulty  connected  with  this  view  if  we  adopt 
the  opinion  above  propounded,  to  the  effect  that  the  sloop  was 
despatched  expressly  to  investigate  this  coast. 

As  we  have  already  stated,  the  west  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  in 
Churchill  Bay  is  on  Munk's  map  very  nearly  in  the  true  longitude, 
according  to  our  calculation,  viz.,  in  long.  940  30'  instead  of  long. 
950  west  of  Greenwich.  Instead,  however,  of  curving  gradually 
round  towards  the  north-east,  from  long.  950  in  Churchill  Bay  to 
long.  900  in  Daly  Bay,  as  the  coastline  really  does  in  the  main,  it 
turns  on  Munk's  map  sharply  to  the  east  in  about  lat.  6o°,  and 
continues  in  this  direction  through  nearly  five  degrees  of  longitude 
before  it  again  turns  northwards,  thus  converting  Churchill  Bay 
from  a  very  open  round  bay  into  a  comparatively  long  and  narrow 
inlet.  From  the  rocks  at  the  mouth  of  Port  Churchill,  the  coast 
in  question  may  very  likely  have  presented  such  an  appearance, 
particularly  if  the  variation  of  the  compass  was  not  duly  con- 
sidered, and  this  may  explain  how  it  has  come  to  be  drawn  thus  on 
Munk's  map.  At  the  northern  shoulder  of  the  bay  thus  formed, 
in  lat.  6o°,  the  coastline  on  Munk's  map  turns  due  north,  but  it 
turns  westerly  again  in  lat.  62 °  10'.  On  this  portion  of  the  coast, 
a  little  north  of  lat.  6i°,  a  deep  inlet  is  shown,  which  in  position 
corresponds  to  Nevill  Bay,  but  in  point  of  shape  much  more 
resembles  Ranken  Inlet. 

In  lat.  620  10'  the  coastline  on  Munk's  map  turns,  as  already 
stated,  westwards  into  a  great  inlet,  of  which  the  western  extremity 
is  not  shown  on  the  map,  although  the  piece  which  is  represented 
has  a  length  of  fully  120  miles.  This  can  scarcely  be  meant  for 
anything  but   Chesterfield    Inlet,  though  the  opening  is  placed 


172  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

between  lat.  62 °  10'  and  620  45',  instead  of  between  lat.  630  and 
630  25'.  This  identification  is  strengthened  by  two  circumstances  : 
vh.,  the  fact  that  two  islands  are  marked  as  situated  in  the 
opening,  corresponding  to  Promise  Island  and  Fairway  Island  of 
the  Admiralty  Chart,  and  that  the  northern  headland  is  placed 
much  more  westerly  than  the  southern  headland.  This,  indeed, 
is  not  their  true  relative  position;  rather  the  contrary  is 'the  case. 
But  the  localities  would,  nevertheless,  appear  in  the  positions 
given  to  them  on  Munk's  map  to  a  person  sailing  by  who  mistook 
the  trend  of  the  coast  to  be  due  north,  as  on  Munk's  map,  instead 
of  north-east  as  it  really  is. 

As  is  implied  in  the  foregoing  statements,  Munk's  map  is  the 
earliest  on  which  the  features  just  discussed,  and  particularly 
Chesterfield  Inlet,  appears. 

A  little  north  of  the  63rd  parallel  the  coastline  on  Munk's  map 
forms  a  sharp  little  bay  pointing  north-west,  from  the  head  of  which 
it  turns  back  and  is  continued  in  a  south-westerly  direction  through 
six  degrees  of  longitude  to  a  headland  projecting  into  Hudson's 
Bay  in  lat.  62°  10'.  The  identity  of  the  small  peculiarly-shaped 
bay — where  the  coast  turns  westwards  on  Munk's  map — with 
Daly  Bay,  which  forms  the  extreme  north-west  corner  of  Hudson's 
Bay — is  unmistakeable,  and  the  latitude  of  the  northernmost 
extremity,  about  63°  40',  is  correct  within  about  30  minutes. 
Whoever  originally  drew  that  must  have  been  there,  and  Munk 
must  have  had  a  sketch  of  it,  whether  done  by  Watson  or  any- 
body else.  Munk's  map  is  the  earliest  known  on  which  it  is 
marked.  A  well-marked  promontory  on  the  north  coast,  just  out 
of  Daly  Bay,  represents  clearly  enough  Cape  Fullerton,  but  there 
is  no  indication  either  of  Roe's  Welcome  or  of  Fisher's  Strait, 
which  were  both  observed  by  Button's  expedition.  The  entrance 
to  the  latter  seems  to  be  indicated  by  a  small  bay  behind  the 
headland  in  lat.  620  10'  abovementioned,  which  unmistakeably 
represents  Cape  Southampton. 

As  regards  longitude,  the  entrance  to  Chesterfield  Inlet,  inside 
the  islands,  is  placed  about  48  deg.  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  which 
corresponds  to  a  true  longitude  of  920  west  of  Greenwich,  whilst 
the  entrance  really  is  in  910  to  91°  15'.  The  innermost  corner  of 
Daly  Bay,  however,  is  wider  of  the  mark,  being  in  long.  92 °  io' 
instead  of  about  890  50'.  This  is  in  keeping  with  the  fact 
above  alluded    to,   that   the   northern   shoulder   of  Chesterfield 


MUNKS   MAP.  173 

Inlet  is  set  back  towards  the  west  fully  two  degrees,  and  that  from 
this  point  the  coast  is  drawn  trending  north  instead  of  north-east. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  as  we  stated 
above  (p.  165),  a  corresponding  displacement  towards  the  west  is 
observable  through  the  whole  northern  coast  of  Hudson's  Bay  and 
Strait  as  far  as  Koldenes,  the  southern  extremity  of  Big  Island. 

The  promontory,  which  in  our  opinion  represents  Cape  Fuller- 
ton,  is  placed  in  long.  900  and  lat.  630  10',  instead  of  long.  88°  30' 
and  lat.  64°  ;  Cape  Southampton  is  shown  in  long.  86°  in- 
stead of  830  40',  and  in  lat.  62°  15',  which  is  only  3  min.  too 
northerly.  It  will  be  seen  from  these  figures  that  the  difference 
in  longitude  between  Daly  Bay  and  Cape  Southampton  is  nearly 
correct  on  Munk's  map.  The  coast  between  Cape  Fullerton  and 
Cape  Southampton  was  evidently  not  actually  observed  on  the 
voyage,  but  the  headlands  which  have  been  seen  were  connected 
on  the  map  by  a  conjectural  coastline.  The  party  in  the  sloop 
probably  passed  Cape  Southampton,  and  steering  north-west 
approached  Cape  Fullerton  and  Daly  Bay,  from  which  they 
followed  the  coast  southwards.  The  representation  on  Munk's 
map  of  the  northern  coast  from  Cape  Southampton  to  Cape 
Fullerton  reminds  one  not  a  little  of  Baffin's  and  Briggs'  maps,  but 
the  similarity  is  not  greater  than  would  naturally  be  expected 
between  maps  of  the  same  localities. 

Munk's  Kolde  Hug  we  have  identified  with  Cary's  Swans'  Nest, 
and  the  correctness  of  this  cannot  be  subject  to  any  reasonable 
doubt,  as  Munk  expressly  states  that  the  coast  eastwards  of  the 
promontory  trends  north-east,  which  is  really  the  case  east  of 
Cary's  Swans'  Nest.  At  the  same  time  Munk's  statement  excludes 
the  only  other  possible  identification  of  Kolde  Hug,  viz.,  with 
Cape  Southampton,  because  east  of  this  latter  the  coast  does  not 
trend  north-east,  but  mainly  east,  forming  a  round  bay  between 
Cape  Southampton  and  Cary's  Swans'  Nest,  which  is  clearly 
marked  on  Munk's  map.  Kolde  Hug  is  on  Munk's  map  in  lat. 
62°  15'  (in  .the  text  620  30'),  a  couple  of  minutes  more  northerly 
than  Cary's  Swans'  Nest,  and  in  long.  85  °,  whilst  the  latter  pro- 
montory is  in  long.  830  io' .  As  regards  longitude  it  is,  there- 
fore, somewhat  less  out  of  place  than  Cape  Southampton,  which 
is  owing  to  the  circumstances  that  the  bay  between  the  two 
promontories  is  drawn  twice  as  wide  as  it  really  is. 

From  Cary's  Swans'  Nest  Munk  steered  an   easterly  course, 


174  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

gradually  drawing  away  from  Coats  Island  ;  and  he  does  not 
appear,  on  the  return  voyage,  to  have  been  near  any  part  of 
the  coast  to  the  north  between  Coats  Island  and  his  Koldenes, 
which  we  identify  with  the  southern  extremity  of  Big  Island.  On 
the  outward  voyage  he,  no  doubt,  observed  pretty  closely  the 
coast  between  Koldenes  and  Fair  Ness,  and  also  noticed  some  of 
the  high  headlands  to  the  north  ;  but  the  coastline  on  his  map 
from  Cary's  Swans'  Nest  round  to  Fair  Ness  must  nevertheless 
in  the  main  be  conjectural,  and  formed  by  connecting  the 
different  headlands  by  means  of  conjectural  lines.  North-east  of 
Kolde  Hug  (Cary's  Swans'  Nest)  two  bays  or  inlets  are  marked 
close  together,  of  which  we  take  the  westernmost  to  mark  merely 
some  land,  west  of  Cape  Pembroke,  which  either  was  too  low  to 
show  above  the  horizon  or  otherwise  was  hidden.  The  sharp 
promontory  to  the  north  of  it  we  believe  to  be  Cape  Pembroke, 
which  for  some  reason  has  appeared  separated  from  the  rest  of 
Coats  Island.  The  next  bay  on  Munk's  map,  between  lat.  63° 
and  630  15',  we  believe  to  mark  Evans  Inlet,  which  opens  between 
lat.  63°  and  630  20'.  North  of  this  inlet  a  broad  projection  of 
land  is  shown  on  Munk's  map,  between  lat.  630  10'  and  630  30', 
which  we  believe  to  represent  Seahorse  Point,  with  which  it 
agrees  very  nearly  in  latitude,  as  the  latter  really  stands  be- 
tween lat.  630  30'  and  630  40'.  On  Munk's  map  this  projection 
is  about  38  deg.  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  corresponding  to  long. 
8 20  west  of  Greenwich,  whilst  Seahorse  Point  stands  in  long. 
8o°  5'.  As,  however,  on  Munk's  map  the  whole  northern  coast  is 
displaced  towards  the  west  to  the  extent  of  a  couple  of  degrees, 
the  position  of  the  projecting  land  in  question  corresponds  really 
to  that  of  Seahorse  Point.  Munk  did  not  know  of  the  existence 
of  Foxe's  Channel,  and  as  he  found  the  coast  trending  north-east 
from  Cary's  Swans'  Nest,  and  doubtless  from  his  northernmost 
point  on  the  outward  voyage  had  seen  the  coast  curving  round 
to  the  north-west  and  west  from  Fair  Ness  to  King  Charles  Cape, 
he  would  naturally  conclude  that  the  sea  between  these  points 
formed  a  round  bay  such  as  he  has  drawn  on  his  map.  In  fact, 
if  a  line  be  drawn  from  Cape  Pembroke  by  Seahorse  Point  to 
King  Charles  Cape;  and,  further,  round  Gordon  Bay  to  Fair 
Ness  and  the  southern  extremity  of  Big  Island,  as  shown  on  any 
good  modern  map,  the  configuration  resulting  would  be  very  like 
the  representation  on  Munk's  map. 


munk's  map.  175 

We  have  thus  made  a  complete  round  of  Hudson's  Strait  and 
Bay  as  represented  on  Munk's  map,  and  we  have  not  hesitated  to 
go  into  great  detail,  because,  in  any  case,  Munk's  map  occupies  a 
distinct  historical  position  in  the  cartography  of  these  regions,  being 
the  first  published  map  of  the  entire  Bay  and  the  second  published 
map  of  the  Strait ;  whilst  at  the  same  time  a  fair  judgment  on 
Munk's  achievement  cannot  be  arrived  at  without  a  careful  and 
detailed  examination.  As  the  result  of  this,  it  appears  to  us  that 
we  may  justly  claim  for  it  an  honourable  place  amongst  the  early 
maps  of  the  seventeenth  century  :  not  only  on  account  of  the  large 
number  of  geographical  features  which  are  represented  on  it  for 
the  first  time — as  far,  at  any  rate,  as  published  maps  are  con- 
cerned— but  also  on  account  of  its  remarkable  fidelity  in  many 
details. 

As  we  have  stated  already,  Munk's  book  has  never  until  now 
been  translated  into  any  other  language  from  the  original  Danish  ; 
and  its  contents  would  probably  have  remained  unknown  to  the 
world  at  large,  but  for  the  abstract  of  it  which  Isaac  de  la  Peyrere 
incorporated  with  his  book,  Relation  du  Groenlande.  Unfor- 
tunately this  abstract  is  full  of  mistakes,  some  of  which  are  very 
serious.  The  mischief  thus  caused  would,  however,  have  been 
counteracted  in  a  great  measure  if  Peyrere  had  reproduced  Munk's 
map  as  he  found  it  in  the  JVavigatto  Septentrionalis.  Unluckily, 
the  French  writer  imagined  that  he  could  improve  on  Munk's 
performance  ;  and  accompanied  his  book  with  a  map  which  cer- 
tainly, as  he  says,  is  in  the  main  a  reproduction  of  Munk's,  but 
in  which  he  has  introduced  considerable  alterations,  in  order  to 
make  it  agree  with  his  own  misunderstandings  of  Munk's  text — 
a  fact  of  which  the  reader  is  not  made  aware.  As  it  is  chiefly 
through  this  second  edition  (if  we  may  so  call  it)  that  Munk's 
map  has  influenced  the  subsequent  cartography  of  this  region, 
we  cannot  avoid  entering  on  a  circumstantial  examination  of  it. 
It  appears  that  La  Peyrere,  in  the  first  place,  addressed  himself 
(as  indeed  was  natural)  to  the  task  of  supplying  the  system  of 
parallels  and  meridians  which  did  not  appear  on  Munk's  map. 
For  this  purpose  he  very  properly  made  use  of  the  data  which 
he  found — or  imagined  were  found — in  Munk's  text ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, he  did  not  choose  the  most  reliable  ones,  nor  did  he 
proceed   in  a   self-consistent  manner.     La  Peyrere  explains  in  a 


176  DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

particular  notice  how  he  set  to  work.1  His  map  comprises  the 
whole  of  the  North  Atlantic,  from  the  coasts  of  Norway  and  of 
Scotland  to  North  America.  He  says  that  he  has  laid  down  the 
parallels  by  means  of  what  he  knew  from  other  sources  concern- 
ing the  latitude  of  Iceland,  Spitzbergen,  and  Cape  Farewell,  and 
what  Munk  says  concerning  the  latitude  of  his  winter-harbour. 
The  two  first-named  have  no  bearing  on  Hudson's  Strait  or  Bay. 
Cape  Farewell  is  placed  by  La  Peyrere  in  lat.  6o°,  which  is  more 
nearly  right  than  Munk's  figure,  6o|° ;  but  under  the  circum- 
stances this  makes  little  difference,  and  there  is  no  reason  at  all 
for  thinking  that  La  Peyrere  was  aware  that  Munk  in  his  text  had 
mentioned  the  latitude  of  Cape  Farewell.  As  regards  Munk's 
winter-harbour,  we  have  already  discussed  the  fact  that,  although 
it  is  shown  on  Munk's  map  in  the  correct  latitude,  the  latter  is 
nowhere  mentioned  in  the  text.  Hereby  a  door  was  opened  to 
mistake ;  and,  as  it  happened,   La  Peyrere  appears   to  have  been 


1  J'ay  dresse  cette  Carte  sur  quatre  Eleuations  qui  m'ont  este  parti- 
culierement  connues,  du  cap  Faruel,  de  l'lslande,  du  Spitsberg,  &  de 
cet  endroit  de  la  Mer  Christiane,  ou  les  glaces  arresterent  le  Capitaine 
Munck,  qui  est  icy  marque,  &  nomme,  Port  d'hyuer  de  Munck. 

J'ay  pris  les  longitudes  de  tous  ces  lieux,  surle  Meridien  de  Pisle  de 
Fer  des  Canaries,  par  l'aduis  de  Monsieur  Roberual  Mathematicien 
de  grand  nom,  &  de  Monsieur  Sanson,  excellent  Geographe  que  jay 
consultez  pour  la  construction  de  cette  Carte. 

La  longitude  du  port  d'hyuer  de  Munck,  m'  a  este  plus  precisement 
connuc  que  les  autres,  par  une  Ecclypse  de  Lune,  qui  est  rapportee 
dans  la  Relation  mesme  de  ce  Capitaine,  qui  dit  l'auoir  veue  estant 
a  ce  port,  sur  les  huit  heures  du  soir,  du  vingtieme  Decembre, 
[N.  S.]  de  l'annee  mil  six  cent  dix-neuf.  Elle  dut  paroistre  a  Paris, 
suiuant  les  Tables  des  mouuemens  celestes,  sur  les  trois  heures  du 
matin,  ou  enuiron,  du  21.  du  mesme  mois.  Mais  parce  que  cette 
Eclypse  dura  trois  heures  &  plus,  &  que  le  Capitaine  Munck  ne  dit 
pas  s'il  la  vid,  ou  a  son  commencement  ou  a  son  milieu,  ou  a  sa  fin  ; 
Monsieur  Gassendy  a  qui  j'ai  eu  recours  touchant  cette  difficulte,  & 
dont  la  suffisance  est  connue  de  tous  ceux  qui  font  profession 
d'aymer  les  belles  lettres,  m'a  conseille,  pour  la  vraysemblance  de 
la  conjecture,  &  pour  ne  pas  tomber  dans  l'vn,  ou  l'autre  extreme,  de 
poser  que  cette  Eclypse  fut  apperceue  au  port  de  Munck,  entre  son 
commencement,  &  sa  fin  ;  c'est  a  dire,  vers  le  milieu  du  temps  qu'elle 
dura,  &  a  l'heure  ou  environ,  qu'ell  dut  paroistre  a  Paris,  etc. — 
Relation  du  Groenland,  pp.  a  ii  b — a  iv  a. 


MUNKS    MAP.  177 

misinformed,  or  to  have  misunderstood  his  informant,  to  the  effect 
that  Munk  found  his  progress  arrested  by  ice  when  he  had  reached 
the  latitude  of  630  20',  and  was  obliged  to  winter  there.  With 
this  idea  he  seems  to  have  been  so  strongly  impressed  that,  when 
he  found  it  was  not  in  keeping  with  Munk's  map,  he  did  not 
conclude  that  he  had  been  led  into  error  himself,  but  assumed 
that  Munk  had  grossly  misplaced  his  winter-harbour  on  his  own 
map.  Acting  on  this  extraordinary  and  unwarrantable  notion, 
he  took  upon  himself  to  alter  Munk's  map,  so  as  to  make 
it  harmonise  with  his  own  erroneous  ideas.  For  this  pur- 
pose La  Peyrere  first  moved  the  whole  of  Hudson's  Bay  and 
Strait  (at  least,  the  western  portion  of  the  latter)  a  couple  of 
degrees  towards  the  north,  so  as  to  bring  the  point  representing 
the  Digges  Island  into  lat.  640,  the  north  end  of  Mansfield  Island 
into  65  J°,  etc. ;  after  which  he  brought  the  west  coast  up  an  addi- 
tional two  degrees,  as  compared  with  the  east  coast.  By  this 
process  of  distortion  the  mouth  of  Churchill  River,  with  Munk's 
harbour,  is  carried  into  a  latitude  of  about  630  30',  between  four 
and  five  degrees  further  north  than  the  place  assigned  to  it  on 
Munk's  own  map. 

With  regard  to  the  longitude  La  Peyrere  does  not  appear  to 
have  learnt  or  noticed  that  Munk  gives  the  longitude  of  Cape 
Farewell,  but  he  imagined  that  he  had  an  excellent  means  of 
determining  it  in  Munk's  statement  concerning  the  eclipse.  It  is, 
however,  evident  from  his  expressions  that  his  knowledge  of 
Munk's  statement  was  very  imperfect,  and  he  made  up  for  their 
defects  by  quite  arbitrary  assumptions.  The  consequence  was 
tthat  he  obtained  a  longitude  for  Port  Churchill  of  8i°  30'  west 
of  Ferro,  or  99°  10'  west  of  Greenwich  :  nearly  four  and  a  half 
degrees  too  westerly. 

Although  La  Peyrere's  map  is  founded  in  the  main  on  Munk's, 
it  differs  considerably  from  the  latter  in  many  other  respects  than 
those  mentioned.  The  detail  of  the  coastline  is  not  reproduced 
with  any  approach  to  fidelity,  and  the  north  coast  of  Hudson's 
Strait  is  entirely  imaginary,  apparently  founded  on  ideas  borrowed 
from  the  map  in  Best's  account  of  Frobisher's  voyages.  The 
representation  of  Greenland  is  borrowed  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s 
map.  Only  three  of  the  names  on  Munk's  map  appear  on  La 
Peyrere's,  of  course  translated  into  French,  7'iz.,  Destroit  Chris- 
tian, for  Hudson's  Strait,  Port  d'kyver  de  Monck,  for  Port  Chur- 

12 


178  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-1620. 

chill,  and  Munk's  name  for  Hudson's  Bay.  With  regard  to  this, 
however,  La  Peyrere  has  made  a  mistake.  Munk's  name  for  the 
whole  bay  is  Novum  Mare  Christian,  but  this  La  Peyrere  has,  as 
it  were,  divided  into  two  :  Mer  Christiane  for  the  northern  part, 
and  Mer  Nouveau  for  the  southern  part — an  error  which  has 
survived  to  our  days,  being  still  found  on  M.  Lauridsen's  map, 
in  his  edition  of  Munk's  Navigatio  Septentrionalis.  Besides  the 
three  names  mentioned,  La  Peyrere  has  inserted  that  of  Nouveau 
Danemarc,  which  he  has  taken  from  Munk's  text. 

If  La  Peyrere  had  not  taken  upon  himself  to  "  improve"  Munk's 
map  in  the  manner  described,  instead  of  reproducing  it  as  it  was, 
geographical  science  would  have  been  considerably  advanced  ; 
whereas  his  composition  caused  great  confusion  in  the  cartography 
of  Hudson's  Bay,  the  traces  of  which  can  be  followed  down  to 
the  end  of  the  last  century.  His  proceeding,  moreover,  was 
unjust  to  Munk,  because  he  nowhere  states  in  what  respects  he 
had  deviated  from  Munk,  who  consequently  got  the  blame  for 
his  imaginations  when  their  true  character  was  discovered. 

On  the  Continent,  where  La  Ffeyrere's  book  obtained  great 
notoriety,  both  in  the  original  and  in  the  numerous  translations, 
cartographers  naturally  availed  themselves  of  the  information  con- 
tained in  it,  particularly  as  regards  Hudson's  Bay,  not  suspecting 
its  untrustworthiness.  On  very  many  if  not  most  of  the  maps 
published  on  the  Continent,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  representation  of  Hudson's  Bay  is  more  or  less 
founded  on  La  Peyrere's.  The  maps  of  this  series,  commencing 
with  Sanson's  map  of  North  America  (Paris,  1650),  are  all 
characterised  by  the  great  projection  of  land  in  the  south-west 
corner  of  the  bay,  bounded  by  a  deep  funnel-shaped  inlet  to  the 
west  of  it.  As  these  geographers  do  not  seem  to  have  known 
anything  about  Port  Nelson,  or  the  rivers  which  there  enter 
Hudson's  Bay,  and  of  which  there  is  an  indication  on  Munk's 
map,  some  of  them  appear  to  have  imagined  that  a  communi- 
cation with  the  Polar  Sea  existed  there.  On  all  these  maps  we 
find  the  west  coast  of  the  bay  drawn  as  on  Munk's  map,  or  rather 
on  La  Peyrere's  edition  of  it,  exhibiting  three  deep  inlets,  on  the 
southernmost  of  which  Munk's  winter-harbour  is  marked ;  and 
the  name  of  New  Denmark,  translated  into  various  languages,  is 
found  applied  to  the  country  around  them.  Several  others  of 
La  Peyrere's  names  are  met  with  on  these  maps. 


MUNKS    MAP.  iyg 

More  correct  information  became  available  for  Continental 
cartographers  when  the  French  occupied  the  western  portion  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  territory,  from  the  closing  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  to  17 13,  particularly  through  the  paper  of  M. 
Jeremie  already  referred  to,  which  was  published  in  1720.  This 
was  not  accompanied  by  any  map,  but  the  data  contained  in  it 
soon  found  place  on  French  maps,  and  others  founded  on  them. 
On  the  maps  of  this  series,  which'  commences  with  G.  Delisle's 
map  of  North  America  (Paris,  1722),  not  only  the  great  projection 
of  land  in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  bay  is  omitted  (that  was 
the  case  already,  on  a  map  published  by  Jailtot,  17 19),  but  Nelson 
R.,  Churchill  R.,  and  Seal  R.,  are  laid  down  under  the  names 
of  R.  de  Bourbon,  R.  de  Monc  ou  Da  noise,  and  R.  des  Loups 
marins.  On  some  maps  we  find  Port  de  Monc  placed  opposite 
Churchill  River.  It  having  been  found  that  Munk's  harbour 
was  not,  as  La  Peyrere  had  stated,  in  lat.  630  20',  but  in  lat. 
590,  the  whole  of  that  part  of  his  map  was  discredited,  and  the 
coast  north  of  Churchill  River  drawn  straight,  whereby  the  early 
discovery  and  representation  of  Chesterfield  Inlet  and  Daly  Bay 
fell  into  oblivion.  At  the  same  time,  some  of  the  Continental 
cartographers  must  have  obtained  information  from  Munk's 
original  work,  because  on  several  of  these  maps  we  find  features 
which  they  cannot  have  derived  from  La  Peyrere.  We  men- 
tioned above  that,  on  Munk's  map,  a  peculiar  (non-existing) 
triangular  bay  appears  on  the  south  side  of  Hudson's  Strait, 
just  inside  the  entrance,  which  La  Peyrere  has  not  reproduced. 
This  bay  is  shown  on  several  maps  dating  from  the  first  quarter 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  variously  modified,  but  unmistakeable, 
and  the  name  of  Baye  du  Sud  is  applied  to  it.1  This  circum- 
stance, of  course,  shows  that  whoever  first  introduced  this  feature 
(we  believe  G.  Delisle,  or  his  informant)  had  misunderstood 
Munk's  account ;  but  as  neither  the  bay  nor  the  name  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Relation  du  Groenland,  it  proves  conclusively  that 
he  must  have  had  the  original  account  before  him.  Nevertheless 
we  find  on  a  map  by  d'Anville,  of  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  Port  de  Monc  again  placed  in  lat.  63^-°,  between  Marble 


1   Maps  showing  these  features  were  published  by  Delisle  (Paris), 
Homann  (Niirnberg),  Schenck  (Holland),  and  others. 


l8o  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,   1605-162O. 

Island  and  Chesterfield  Inlet.  This  may,  perhaps,  be  explained  by 
supposing  that  the  discovery  (or  rediscovery)  of  Chesterfield 
Inlet,  so  clearly  shown  on  Munk's  map,  had  suggested  to  the 
author  of  the  map  in  question  that,  after  all,  the  manner  in  which 
this  part  of  the  coast  had  been  drawn  by  Munk  contained  more 
truth  than  it  had  lately  been  credited  with  :  at  the  same  time  the 
author  of  this  map  may  not  have  been  acquainted  with  the 
strong  evidence  which  connected  Munk's  winter-harbour  with 
Churchill  River. 

In  England,  Munk's  original  treatise  appears  never  to  have  be- 
come known  at  all ;  it  is  not,  that  we  are  aware,  noticed  by  one 
single  writer;  nor  does  La  Peyrere's  book  seem  to  have  been 
known  until  a  translation  appeared  in  Churchill's  Collection  of 
Voyages  and  Travels  in  1704. 

The  earliest  published  English  map  on  which  Hudson's  Bay  is 
represented  appeared  in  1625,  in  the  third  volume  of  Purchas  his 
Pilgrimes.  It  was  drawn  by  the  celebrated  mathematician,  Henry 
Briggs,  with  a  view  of  showing  the  geographical  discoveries  which 
had  been  made  down  to  that  time,  and  which  had  a  bearing  on 
the  question  whether  a  North-West  Passage  was  likely  to  be 
found.  Although  it  was  published  after  Munk's  map,  there  is  no 
indication  whatever  of  its  author  having  known  the  latter,  or 
indeed  of  his  having  been  at  all  aware  of  Munk's  expedition 
having  taken  place.  Nevertheless,  a  comparison  between  the  two 
maps  is  of  no  small  interest.  With  regard  to  Hudson's  Strait,  we 
notice  that  on  Briggs'  map  the  long  piece  of  coast  interpolated 
on  Gerritsz.'s  and  Munk's  maps,  immediately  inside  the  entrance 
on  the  south  side,  is  absent,  and  that  Ungava  Bay,  with  Akpatok, 
are  clearly  marked ;  but  for  the  rest,  Briggs'  drawing  of  the 
coasts  of  Hudson's  Strait  resembles  but  very  distantly  the  real 
configuration,  and  is  upon  the  whole  decidedly  inferior  to  both 
Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  and  Munk's,  which  largely  rested  on  autopsy. 
Neither  the  east  coast  of  Hudson's  nor  James's  Bay  had  been , 
visited  by  anybody  since  Hudson's  time,  and  the  representation 
of  these  parts  on  Briggs'  map,  as  on  Munk's,  must,  therefore, 
in  the  main  be  borrowed  from  Hessel  Gerritsz.  As  regards  the 
west  coast  of  James's  Bay,  however,  an  important  difference  is 
noticeable.  On  Hessel  Gerritsz.'s  map  the  western  shoulder  of 
James's  Bay  (Cape  Henrietta  Maria,  the  extreme  point  reached  by 
Hudson)  is  placed  in  about  lat.  6o°  ;    but  on  Briggs'  map  it   is 


munk's  map.  181 

shown — of  course  conjecturally — in  lat.  56°3o'  ;  no  doubt  because 
Briggs  had  reason  to  doubt  Gerritsz.'s  accuracy  in  this  respect. 
Even  thus,  however,  the  point  in  question  is  placed  about  ioo 
miles  too  northerly,  and  the  consequence  is  that  to  the  west  of 
James's  Bay  we  find  on  Briggs'  map  a-  very  considerable,  quite 
fictitious,  projection  of  land  similar  to  that  on  Munk's  map.  In 
both  cases  this  error  has  the  same  cause,  as  explained  above  ;  but 
on  Briggs'  map  the  projection  is  much  smaller,  partly  because  he 
reduced  Gerritsz.'s  error  by  one  half,  partly  because  he  had  at  his 
disposal  more  correct  information  derived  from  Button's  expedi- 
tion, whereby  he  was  enabled  to  place  both  Port  Nelson  and 
Cape  Tatnam  very  nearly  in  their  right  latitudes  ;  with  the  result 
that  the  large  funnel-shaped  inlet  leading  to  Port  Nelson  on 
Munk's  map  is  on  Briggs'  map  reduced  to  very  much  smaller 
and  truer  proportions. 

We  have  suggested  that  Munk  may  have  received  some  in- 
formation, through  Watson  or  otherwise,  concerning  Button's 
expedition,  but  a  comparison  between  his  map  and  Briggs'  shows 
conclusively  that  Munk's  representation  of  the  west  coast  of 
Hudson's  Bay  was  not  founded  on  any  information  from  that 
quarter.  Purchas  plainly  intimates  that  Briggs'  map,  in  a  large 
measure,  was  founded  on,  or  even  a  reproduction  of,  Hubert's 
Piatt,  but  the  drawing  of  the  coastline  bounding  Hudson's  Bay  on 
Briggs'  map  is  quite  different  from  that  on  Munk's.  On  the 
former  the  opening  of  a  wide  inlet  named  Hubbart's  Hope, 
which  has  no  existence  in  reality,  is  marked  in  the  place  of 
Churchill  Bay.  To  the  north  of  this  the  coast  curves  round 
in  a  north-westerly  direction,  much  as  it  does  in  nature ;  but 
there  is  nothing  shown  that  resembles  the  two  inlets  shown  on 
Munk's  map,  and  of  which  the  northernmost,  no  doubt,  is 
Chesterfield  Inlet ;  nor  is  Daly  Bay  marked  on  Briggs'  map. 
On  the  north  coast  we  find  Button's  Ne  Ultra,  and  the  entrance 
to  Foxe's  Channel  (which  was  discovered  by  Baffin),  both 
marked,  whilst  on  Munk's  map  there  is  no  indication  of 
either  of  these  features.  If  Munk  had  based  his  map  of  these 
parts  on  information  derived  from  Button's  expedition,  we 
should  have  expected  to  find  Chesterfield  Inlet  on  Briggs' 
map  and  Button's  Ne  Ultra  on  Munk's ;  and  the  result  of  our 
comparison,  therefore,  must  be  to  establish  the  originality  of 
Munk's  map. 


182  DANISH    ARCTIC    EXPEDITIONS,  1605-162O. 

This  result  is  further  strengthened  by  comparison  with  the  two 
next  following  English  maps,  viz.,  James's,  published  in  1633,  and 
Luke  Foxe's,  which  appeared  in  1635,  each  of  them  founded  on 
its  author's  personal  investigation  of  the  coast,  1 631-1632.  On 
both  of  these  maps  Cape  Henrietta  Maria  is  marked  in  its  proper 
position,  and  there  is  no  vestige  of  the  fictitious  projection  of 
land  which  appears  on  Briggs'  map,  but  which  does  not  reappear 
on  any  later  English  map.  On  both  of  these,  and  all  later  English 
maps,  Churchill  Bay  is  drawn  fairly  correctly,  but  on  neither  of 
them  is  any  deep  inlet  marked  on  the  west  coast,  nor  is  Daly 
Bay  marked.  On  neither  of  these  maps  is  there  any  allusion  to 
Munk,  or  any  reproduction  of  features  first  shown  on  his  map ; 
nor  have  we  found  anything  of  the  kind  on  any  other  English 
maps  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  not  till  the  eighteenth 
century,  after  the  appearance  in  Churchill's  Collection  of  repro- 
ductions of  La  Peyrere's  map,  that  allusions  to  Munk  appeared  on 
English  maps.  On  a  large  map  of  North  America,  by  Herman 
Moll  (dedicated  to  Lord  Somers),  without  a  date,  we  thus  find 
Churchill  River  under  the  name  of  "  Munck  R.".  Neverthe- 
less, the  words  "Here  I.  Munk  wintered  a.d.  16 19"  are  placed 
against  the  coast  in  lat.  630,  and  the  name,  "New  Denmark,"  is 
placed  here.  Evidently  the  author,  who  probably  borrowed  these 
features  from  some  Continental  map,  did  not  know  why  the 
French  had  given  the  name  of  Munk's  River  to  the  Churchill  River. 
On  a  later  map  by  the  same  author  the  name  Churchill  River  is 
inserted  instead  of  "Munck  R.",  whilst  the  legend  just  quoted 
stands  in  the  same  place.  On  a  map  of  North  America  by  R.  W. 
Seale,  the  name  "  Munk's  R."  is  applied  to  an  inlet  in  lat.  65 °. 
Here  we  also  find  the  name  of  "  South  Bay",  but  misapplied  to  an 
inlet  indicated  considerably  farther  to  the  west  than  Cape  Hope's 
Advance.  In  Th.  Jeffery's  American  Atlas  (1775)  there  is  a  map  of 
Hudson's  Bay  (No.  5.6),  on  which  we  find  the  name  of  "  Danish  or 
Churchill  River";  whilst  the  name  of  "  South  Bay"  is  applied  to  the 
whole  of  the  great  bight  formed  by  Hudson's  Strait  inside  Cape 
Chidley — a  use  of  the  name  which  might  very  suitably  be  revived 
in  memory  of  Munk,  as  it  would  be  convenient  to  have  a  name 
for  this  expansion  of  the  Strait,  which  now  is  nameless.  In  the 
same  Atlas  there  is  a  map  of  the  British  Empire  in  America,  by 
Samuel  Dunn  (No.  8),  on  which  the  name  "Churchill,  or  Danish 
R.",  is  followed  by  the  words,  "  where  Jn.  Munk  wintered  in  16 19." 


monk's  map.  1^3 

On  some  maps  Munk's  names  occur  applied  in  a  very  arbitrary 
manner;  for  instance,  on  Middleton's  Chart  of  Hudson's  Bay 
(1743),  whereon  a  piece  of  water  near  Baffin's  Bay  is  inscribed 
"  Christian  Sea,  so  called  by  John  Munk  a  Dane  in  the  year  1691" 
[flip].  The  name  of  "  New  Denmark"  is  sometimes  found  similarly 
misplaced. 

The  reoccupation  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  territory  by  the  English 
naturally  had  the  consequence  that  the  French,  and  upon  the 
whole  the  older  names  for  localities  there,  by  degrees  fell  into 
disuse ;  though  some  of  them  survived  for  some  time  at  the  side 
of  the  English  ones ;  and  Munk's  names  gradually  disappeared 
from  the  maps.  We  have  mentioned  that  some  of  them  occur 
on  the  map  illustrating  A.  W.  Graah's  voyage  to  East  Green- 
land ;  but  this,  of  course,  is  easily  explained,  as  Graah  was  a 
Danish  writer  who  had  specially  acquainted  himself  with  early 
Danish  literature  touching  arctic  geography.  The  latest  in- 
stance of  any  of  Munk's  names  being  used  that  has  come 
under  our  notice  is  that  of  Sud  Bay  as  an  alternative  name 
for  Ungava  Bay,  on  C.  F.  Weiland's  map  of  North  America 
(Weimar,  1846). 

In  conclusion  we  may  mention  a  point  which  should  have  been 
noticed  before,  but  has  been  accidentally  passed  over.  On  Munk's 
map  the  name  Munkenes  Winterhauen  is  written  alongside  the 
west  coast  of  what  we  have  described  as  the  funnel-shaped  inlet, 
in  such  a  way  that  persons  unacquainted  with  the  text  and  the 
woodcut  of  the  harbour  may  easily  mistake  the  name  as  meant 
for  the  inlet  in  question,  particularly  as  the  figure  of  a  ship  is 
placed  in  the  mouth  of  the  inlet.  On  La  Peyrere's  map  the 
corresponding  inscription  is  placed  just  below  the  true  locality, 
but  in  such  a  way  that  it  may  easily  be  misunderstood  as  apply- 
ing to  some  point  near  the  mouth  of  the  funnel-shaped  inlet, 
where,  moreover,  two  ships  are  depicted,  whilst  all  the  other 
figures  of  ships  which  occur  on  Munk's  map  are  omitted.  Whether 
La  Peyrere  himself  was  under  a  misunderstanding  of  this 
kind,  we  have  no  means  of  deciding.  The  place  where  the  ships 
are  shown  is  in  lat.  630  20',  according  to  his  scale.  The  same 
want  of  precision  is  noticeable  on  the  various  reproductions  of 
La  Peyrere's  map,  excepting  the  one  in  the  first  volume  of 
Churchill's  Collection,  on  which  the  words  Here  Munk  wintered 
are    placed    below    the    funnel-shaped    inlet,    clearly    indicating 


1 84         DANISH   ARCTIC   EXPEDITIONS,    1605-162O. 

that  the  translator  had  understood  the  harbour  to  be  in  that 
inlet.  The  map  in  question  belongs  to  the  translation  of 
the  26th  navigation  of  Hulsius  (see  pp.  lxi  and  cxvi),  but  on 
the  copy  of  La  Peyrere's  map,  which  accompanies  the  latter, 
the  legend  :  Haafen  alwo  Cap  Munck  iiberwintert  is  placed  as 
on  the  original. 


INDEX. 


Akpatok,  20  //.,  91,  92,  93,  157,  160, 

180 
Aleckenes,  or  Alkenes,   20,    91,  92, 

93>  94,  157,  160 
Allen,  57,  131 
Anville,  d',  179 
Asher,  George,  lxxii,  lxxviii 

Baffin,  William,  lxxxiv,   lxxxv,    151, 

173 
Baia  dus  Medaus,  151,  152 
Barrow,  Sir  John,  Ixviii  «. ,  cxvii,  107 
Bay,  Jens  Munk's,  51,  125 
Baye  du  Sud,  179 
Bell,  C.  N.,  109,  115,  117 
Bell,  Robert,  116  n. 
Beluga,  24,  112 
Best,  George,  75,  77 
Big  Island,  163,  164,  165,  174 
Briggs,  Henry,  lxxxvii,  141,  142,  151, 

171,  180 
Brock,   Hans,  xvii,  cix,  cxvi,  25,  26, 

37,  112,  169 
Bullock,  Capt. ,  lxxxvii 
Button  Islands,  79,  155 
Button,  Sir  Thomas,  lxxx,   ciii,  109, 

114,  137,  138,  142,  143 
Bylot,  Robert,  lxxxiv,  lxxxv 

Cape  Best,  75 

Cape  Charles,  98 

Cape  Digges,  98 

Cape  Farewell,   7,  8,  9,   67,  69,  70, 

72,  73,  H9 
Cape  Fullerton,  172,  173 
Cape  Henrietta  Maria,  167,  170,  180, 

182 
Cape  Hope's  Advance,  90,  157,  160, 
Cape,  King  Charles's,  165,  174 
Cape  Merry,  113 
Cape  Merry's  Rock,  1 1 1 
Cape  Pembroke,  174 
Cape  Resolution,  161 
Cape  Southampton,  172,  173 
Cape  Tatnam,  169,  181 
Cape  Tordenskjold,  68 
Cape  Warwick,  75 
Cape  Wolstenholme,  165 


Cartier,  Jaques,  lxxv 

Cary's  Swan's  Nest,  53  n.,  128,  173, 

174 
Caspersen,   Casper,  surgeon,  cvii,  36, 

37,  38,  41,  122 
Chamberlain,  John,  news-writer,  cxiv 
Chappel,  E.,  127  //.,  131 
Charles  Island,  22  ;z.,  98,  159 
Chesterfield  Inlet,  107,  171,  172,  180 
Christian  IV  of  Denmark,  xv,  xxvi, 

xlix,  64 
Christy,  Miller,  118  ;/.,  137  ;/. 
Churchill  Bay,  141,  142,  144,  182 
Churchill  Harbour  (see  Port  Churchill) 
Churchill    River,    107,    182    (see    also 

Port  Churchill) 
Clerk    of    California,    The,    69,    83, 

116  11.,  134 
Coats  Island,  128,  174 
Coats,  W.,  81,  85.  98 
Corte  Real,  Caspar,  Ixxiii 

Dalsfjord,  57  n.,  131 

Daly  Bay,  172 

Danish  River,  182 

Davis,  John,  lxxiv,  76 

Davis  Strait,  8,  70,  71,  75 

Delisle,  G.,  179 

Destroit  Christian,  177 

Dieffuels  Hug,  28,  115 

Digges  Islands,  22  ;/.,  54  «.,  98,  99, 

129,  148,  166 
Digses  Eyland,   22,  23,  53,  96,    101, 

128  (see  also  Mansfield  Island) 

Eclipse  of  the  moon,  34,  118,  176  n. 
Ekkertaujok,  20  n.,  91,  92,  157 
Elfsborg,  siege  of,  xviii 
Euhibriiingen,    cv,    5,   23,    34,    124 ; 
guns  of,  27,  37,   123,  133,  134,  135 
Evans  Inlet,  174 

Fosroe,  7  n. ,  65 
Fair  Ness,  165,  174 
Fairway  Island,  172 
Ferroe,  7,  65 
Fisher's  Strait,  172 
Forster,  J.  R.,  lxviii  «.,  117 

13 


1 86 


INDEX. 


Fox  Channel,  lxxxv,  xciv,  139 
Foxe,  Luke,  cxiv  ft.,   114  ;/.,   118  ft., 

142,  143,  182 
Fretum  Christian,  10,  22,  75  {see  also 

Hudson's  Strait) 
Fretum  Hotson,  10  {see  also  Hudson's 

Strait) 
Fretum  Regis,  8,  70,  71,  75 
Frobisher,  Sir  Martin,  lxxiv 
Frobisher's  Bay  (or  Strait),  9  ft.,  73,  74 

Gabriel  Sound,  74,  152,  161 
Gerritsz.,   Hessel,  c,   148,    149,   150, 

152,  153,  155,   156,   157,  160,  164, 

166,  167,  177,  180 
Gibbon,  Capt.,  lxxxiv 
Gordon,  A.  R.,  113  n. 
Gordon  Bay,  174 
Gordon   (or  Gourdon),  William,  cii, 

cix,  43,  61,  69,  73,  88,  89,  94,  125, 

H5 
Graah,  A.  W.,  74ft.,  75,  183 
Green  Island,  93,  157 
Greenland,  151 

Hakluyt,  R.,  lxxiii 

Hall,  James,  xxx 

Hall's  Island,  73 

Hansteen,  Chr.,  72  ft. 

Haresund,  19,  84,  161,  163 

Harsont,  161 

Hatton's  Headland,  10  v.,  75 

Hawkeridge,  William,  lxxxvi 

Holberg,  L.,  1 

Holm,  G.,  68 

Homan,  J.  B. ,  179  ft. 

Hope's  Advance  Bay,  91,  92,  157 

Hopes  Checked,  lxxxii,  144 

Hotson  Strait,  9,  10  {see  also  Hudson 

Strait) 
Hubbart's    Hope,    lxxxii,    xcv,    140, 

141,  142,  181 
Hubert,  josias,  lxxxii,  141,  143,  181 
Hudson,  Henry,  lxxviii,  i8ft.,77,  157 
Hudson's  Bay,  lxxv,  102 
Hudson's  Strait,  lxxi,  9,   10,  73,  74, 

76,  79,  154 
Hutchins,  Thomas,  135 

Icebergs,  formation  of,  118 

Icy  Cove,  19ft.,  85,  86,  87,  163 

Iisefjorde,  9,  74,  152 

Iisver,  22,  54,  96,  97,  100,   130,   159 

Ilha  de  Fortune,  152,  155 

Isles  de  Resolution,  137  ft. 

Jackman's  Sound,  15  ft.,  162 
Jaillot,  179 

James'  Bay,  167,  170,  180 
James,  Thomas,  142,  182 


Jeffery,  Th.,  182 

Jensen,   Rasmus,   chaplain,    cvii,   35,, 

,36,  37,  39.  60 
Jeremie,  130,  132,  179 
Joris,  Carolus,  xliv 

Karmsund,  6,  65 

Karsund,  65 

Kildin,  xvii,  xxiv 

King  Charles'  Cape,  165,  174 

King's  Foreland,  158 

Knight,  John,  lxxvii 

Kohl,  Dr.,  lxxii 

Kolde  Hug,  53,  127,  173 

Koldenes,  97,  164,  165 

Kolguew  Island,  xv 

Labrador,  153,  156,  160 
Laniprenen,  xxi,  xlviii,  cvi,  5,  15,  17, 

24,  50,  104,    in 
La    Peyrere,   xxxvii,    xlix,   lviii,    83,. 

117,  120,  175,  178 
Lauridsen,    P.,    xxxvii,    lvii,     xcviii, 

cviii,   76,  81,  85,  91,  92,  98,  100,. 

101,  108,  178 
Lind,  H.  D. ,  xiii  ;/. ,  liii  //. 
Lock's  Land,  9  ;/.,  73 
Lomblis  Strait,  9,  10,  76,  79 
Love,  den  rode,  xviii 
Lumley's  Inlet,  9  ft.,  74,  76,  79 

Magnetic  variation,  8,  9,  40,  54,  71,. 
122 

Major,  R.  H.,  xxxi 

Manoteousibi,  132,  133 

Mansell  Island,  102  n. 

Mansfield  Island,  22  n.,  101,  102, 
128,  167 

Markham,  Sir  Clements,  lxxvii 

Mer  Christiane,  178 

Mer  Nouveau,  178 

Meta  Incognita,  100,  166 

Middle  Savage  Islands,  81 

Middleton,  C,  183 

Mistaken  Strait,  77 

Munck  {see  Munk) 

Munckenes  {see  Munkenes) 

Munckes  Bay,  Jens,  51,  125 

Munckes  Vindterhaffn,  Jens,  23,  183 

Munk,  Erik  Nielsen,  vii,  viii,  xiii 

Munk,  Erik  Nielsen,  jun.,  cxvi,  42 

Munk,  Jens  Eriksen,  family  and  child- 
hood, vi-ix  ;  adventures  in  Brazils, 
ix-xiii ;  earliest  enterprises,  xiii-xiv ; 
voyages  to  Nova  Zemblia,  xv-xviii ; 
service  in  the  war  with  Sweden, 
xviii-xxi  ;  voyage  to  Spain  and 
Russia,  xxii-xxiii  ;  chases  pirates, 
etc.,  xxiii,  xlvii ;  interests  himself 
in    the  whale    fishery,    xxiv-xxvi ;. 


INDEX. 


I87 


expedition  to  Hudson's  Bay,  xxxiii- 
xxxv  ;  intended  second  voyage, 
xxxv-xliv  ;  employment  from  1621- 
1625,  xliv-xlvii  ;  service  in  the 
thirty-years'  war,  xlvii-xlix;  death, 
xlix-liv 

Instructions  for  expedition  in 
1619,  xcvii,  136-146  ;  manuscript, 
60-64;  map,  146-183 

Munk,  Niels,  vi 

Munk,  Niels  Eriksen,  xvii,  xxiii 

Munkeness,   10,   II,  55,  74,  75,  79, 
131,  155,  161,  163 

Munk's  Cove,  114 

M  unk's  River,  182 

Musketo  Point,  28;?.,  115 

Narwhal,  cv 

Navigatio     Septentrionalis,     editions 

and  translations  of,  lv-lxvii,  cxviii  ; 

manuscript  of,  60 
Nelson  River,  141,  169 
Ne  Ultra,  Button's,  lxxxiii 
Nevill  Bay,  171 
New  Denmark,  178,  182,  183 
Nolk,  Anders,  xvii,  xviii 
Norreland,  24,  106 
North  Bay,  19  n.,  85,  163 
Nottingham  Island,  98,  99,  100,  130, 

166 
Nova  Dania,  22,  23,  102 
Nova  Zemblia,  xv,  xvii 
Novum  Mare,  22,  102 
Novum  Mare  Christian,  102,  178 
Nouveau  Danemark,  178 
Nyerup,  R. ,  lxvii,  64  n. 

Old  Fort  (Churchill),  114 
Origanus,  David,  71,  119,  145 

Petersen,  Jan,  cix,  cxvi,  25,  42,  112 
Pilots,  Munk's,  cix,  3,  20,  89  {see  also 

H.  Brock,  W.  Gordan,  J.  Petersen, 

and  J.  Watson) 
Pirates  in  the  North  Sea,  xxiii 
Port  Churchill,  23  n.,  106,   109,   no, 

in,  112,  114,  117,  168 
Port  de  Monc,  179 
Port  d'hyver  de  Munck,  177 
Port  Nelson,  169 
Prickett,  Abacuck,  18  ji. 
Prince  of  Wales  Fort,  114 
Prince  of  Wales  Island,  97,  158 
Promise  Island,  172 
Ptarmigan,  30  ;/.,  117. 


Ranken  Inlet,  171 

Ravn,  E.,  75,  85,  101,  107 

Rensuna  {see  Rinsund) 

Resolution  Island,  10  ».,  76,  77,  154 

Richardson,  Sir  John,  114,  134 

Rinsund,  15,  82,  161,  T62 

Riviere  Danoise,  132,  133,  179 

Riviere  de  Bourbon,  179 

Riviere  de  Monc,  132,  179 

Riviere  du  loup  marin,  134,  179 

Robson,  J.,  109,  134,  135 

Roe's  Welcome,  lxxxiii,  xcv,  172 

Rothe,  C.  P.,  lxvii 

Rundall,  Th.,  lxxxvi 

Russian  glass,  19,  84 

Rype,  30«.,  117 

St.  Mary's  Rock,  23  n.,  1 1 1 
Salisbury    Island,  98,   99,    100,   130, 

166 
Sanson,  N.,  179 
Schenck,  Th.,  179  n. 
Schlegel,  J.  H.,  xxxii,  li,  64  n. 
Seahorse  Point,  174 
Seale,  R.  W.,  182 
Seal  River,  179 
Severn  River,  108 
Skudenes,  6,  65 
Slange,   N.,    xviii,    xix,    xx,    xxviii, 

xxxii,  1,  cvi 
Snee  Oeland,  21,  9 .-,  93,  157 
Sondfjord,  58  n.,  131 
Soster,  22,  54,  96,  98,  1 29 
South  Bay,  182 

Stygge,  Maurits,  cvii,  n  «.,  38,  43,  79 
Siid  Bay,  183 
Sundfiord,  57,  131 
Sydernes,  97,  158,  160 
Sydero,  7,  65 
Synder  Bugt,  21,  92,  93 

Umfreville,  E.,  116  n. 

Ungava  Bay,    20  n.,   21  ;/.,    92,    93, 

156,  157 
Upper  Savage  Islands,  85 

Warwick  Foreland,  76 

Watson,  cii,  cix,  cxv,  45  ;/.,  73,  86, 

89,  105,  125,  169,  172 
Weiland,  C.  F.,  183 
Weymouth,  George,  Ixxvi,  76 
Whalefishery,  xxiv,  xxvi 
Whitbourne,  Richard,  xcii;?. 
White  Strait,  197*.,  86 
Wolstenholme,     Sir    John,     lxxxvii, 

lxxxix 


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